Paris [France], May 28 : Red-hot Casper Ruud continued his nearly flawless performance on the clay as the World No. 7 started his French Open 2024 campaign with a convincing 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory against Brazilian Felipe Meligeni Alves.
Ruud, a 12-time tour-level titlist, will lock horns with either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or qualifier Valentin Vacherot.
Ruud, who has been a finalist in Paris the last two years, is hoping to advance this week and win his first major championship. The seventh seed has won 36 matches thus far this season on the ATP Tour, including championship runs in Barcelona, and Geneva last week, and his first trophy above the ATP 250 level.
"I think it was a pretty steady level all around, from the beginning to the end. Obviously a bit nervous coming in, based on the two previous years here. Definitely a lot of points at stake and a lot of things I want to achieve here. A bit nervous but I'm very happy with today's win," Ruud said as quoted by ATP.
The 25-year-old faced qualifier Meligeni Alves in his first ATP Head2Head match under the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof, and he continued his scorching form.
Ruud moved with ease from defence to attack, frequently going well beyond the baseline to take advantage of the Brazilian's strength before seizing the chance to break free with a forehand.
According to ATP Stats, the Norwegian made 89 per cent of his first serves and faced just one break point during the one-hour, 55-minute encounter. He was quite precise with his own delivery.
Ruud, who is ranked seventh in the ATP Rankings, was able to score short returns by serving to Meligeni Alves' backhand on the ad-side. This allowed Ruud to move closer to the doubles alley and execute powerful groundstrokes to move into the second round.
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