Casper Ruud revealed he started feeling nervous toward the end of the second set because he couldn’t believe how good of a start he made against Matteo Berrettini. Ruud, the fifth-seeded player in the US Open main draw, defeated 13th-seeded Berrettini 6-1 6-4 7-6 (4) to progress into his first semifinal at Flushing Meadows.
Ruud got off to an impressive start versus Berrettini as at one point he led 6-1 5-1. “That was a better start than I think I ever had before in a match,” Ruud said after the win, per the ATP website. “Everything was going my way, I was hitting all the spots I needed to plus Matteo maybe didn’t serve as well as he usually does.
I was able to take care of the chances that I got. I got a little bit nervous towards the end of the second set, because things were almost going too well. It’s good, but sometimes you can get over-excited and start to think you can walk on water.
So I had to calm down a little bit, and luckily was able to serve out the second set, and the third set was very tough”.
Ruud closed out Berrettini in straight sets
Ruud started the match with back-to-back breaks and a 5-0 lead, before serving out for the first set in the seventh game.
After easily winning the first set, Ruud broke Berrettini twice in the second set to open a 5-1 lead. Ruud then started feeling nervous as he missed out on three set points in the seventh game and failed to serve out for the second set in the eighth game.
But Ruud was able to serve out for the second set in his second attempt, in the 10th game. Berrettini bounced back a bit at the start of the third set as he led 5-2 and had two set points in the eighth game. But Berrettini blew his chances as Ruud saved two set points and broke back the Italian to force a tie-break, which he won to complete a straight-set win. Ruud plays next against either Nick Kyrgios or Karen Khachanov.
