Toronto [Canada], August 9 : The World No.5 Casper Ruud battled through a tough test from Jiri Lehecka to reach the third round of the Canadian Open.
Norway's Ruud defeated the 21-year-old Czech 7-6(6), 6-4 in a tale of two sets at Centre Court.
In the first set, Ruud struggled to perform at his peak, making 21 unforced errors, including six double faults. The World No. 5 maintained his composure to rally from 0/4 in the first set tie-break and later win four straight games from 4/6 despite having a set chance on return at 5-6 that Lehecka fended off with a brilliant backhand drop shot.
As the match went on, Ruud became more reliable, throwing powerful forehands with heavy topspin that travelled far beyond the baseline to outlast Lehecka in drawn-out skirmishes. In the seventh game of the second set, he broke Lehecka's serve to love. Ruud, 24, closed the match on serve after converting his fourth match chance in the second set after scoring 13 straight points to gain triple match point at 5-3.
The 13th seed Alexander Zverev or the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will be Ruud's next opponent. The Norwegian would achieve his 200th tour-level triumph if he were to triumph and advance to the Toronto quarterfinals.
The third seed is going for his first career victory at the ATP Masters 1000 level as well as his second championship of the year (Estoril). Ruud is hoping for another strong showing in Canada to create some distance between himself and other potential Nitto ATP Finals competitors. He is now ranked seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.
"I just kind of said to myself, 'Don't give up.' Honestly the last couple of losses I've had in the last month have been going away from me too quickly, I've lost a couple of sets 0-6, which is not a good feeling," ATP.com quoted Ruud as saying in his on-court interview.
"I was down 0/4 in that tie-break and I said, 'I'm just going to somehow get my claws and keep holding onto this score. Luckily I got two mini-breaks back and then saved a couple of set points. It's sometimes just about luck, margins being on your side and luckily today they were on my side when I really needed it," he added.
"Towards the end of the second set, I was starting to feel better. I was hitting cleaner and serving much better. First set and second set, a little bit of a difference but I'm happy with the way I progressed through the match," Ruud said.
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