Third seed Casper Ruud claimed a spot in the quarter-finals at the Gonet Geneva Open with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Tennys Sandgren on Wednesday.
The Norwegian arrived in Geneva on the back of a strong run of form that included semi-final appearances at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, BMW Open (Munich) and Mutua Madrid Open.
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The 22-year-old took that momentum into his opening match against Sandgren, who is No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The American was looking for a win in their first tour-level meeting, having fallen to Ruud in the qualifying rounds of Auckland in 2018.
Ruud came out swinging against Sandgren in their Centre Court clash, creating his first break opportunity in the fifth game and keeping pace with the American from the baseline. The third seed raised his level as the set wound to a close, dropping only one point in his final three service games to keep the pressure on Sandgren before breaking to love at 5-5. Ruud got out to an early break in the second set, and converted his fourth match point to seal the victory in an hour and 24 minutes.
Into his sixth consecutive quarter-final appearance, a streak dating back to Acapulco in March, Ruud will next face Dominik Koepfer after the German defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3.
Second seed Denis Shapovalov and fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov are scheduled to hit the court later today in Geneva, after a rain delay halted play for an hour and a half.
The Norwegian arrived in Geneva on the back of a strong run of form that included semi-final appearances at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, BMW Open (Munich) and Mutua Madrid Open.
[WATCH LIVE 1]
The 22-year-old took that momentum into his opening match against Sandgren, who is No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The American was looking for a win in their first tour-level meeting, having fallen to Ruud in the qualifying rounds of Auckland in 2018.
Ruud came out swinging against Sandgren in their Centre Court clash, creating his first break opportunity in the fifth game and keeping pace with the American from the baseline. The third seed raised his level as the set wound to a close, dropping only one point in his final three service games to keep the pressure on Sandgren before breaking to love at 5-5. Ruud got out to an early break in the second set, and converted his fourth match point to seal the victory in an hour and 24 minutes.
Into his sixth consecutive quarter-final appearance, a streak dating back to Acapulco in March, Ruud will next face Dominik Koepfer after the German defeated Feliciano Lopez 7-5, 6-7(1), 6-3.
Second seed Denis Shapovalov and fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov are scheduled to hit the court later today in Geneva, after a rain delay halted play for an hour and a half.