Thiem Powers Past Ruud Under Roof At Roland Garros
Dominic Thiem extended his winning streak to 10 matches on Friday with an often grueling 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 28 seed Casper Ruud of Norway at Roland Garros.
Third seed Thiem, who captured his first Grand Slam championship title at the US Open (d. Zverev) earlier this month, was forced to recover from 1-3 down in the first set against in-form Ruud for victory in two hours and 15 minutes.
“I’m very happy and it was a great match,” said Thiem, in an on-court interview with Cedric Pioline. “I didn’t make many mistakes, it was a very good match. Casper is a very good player and we had some nice rallies. He has a lot of confidence after semi-final runs in Rome and Hamburg, and has a very good attitude from beginning to the end. I didn’t want to give him any chances in the third set.”
Thiem, who has a 19-5 record in 2020 after reaching the fourth round for the fifth consecutive year, will now prepare to challenge 2015 champion and No. 16 seed Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland or French wild card Hugo Gaston.
“Basically I feel fine,” said Thiem. “Of course I [have] started to feel all the last weeks physically, also emotionally. I really love this tournament, and I would love to go deep [and] play well. I will do everything [for] a good recovery. Today, I had an early match. That is good, so I think I’m going to have more than 48 hours to rest. So [I will] try to [get an] easy, but good practice in tomorrow and [have] two good treatments with my physio. [Some] good food, good sleep. Then, [I will] put everything I have into the match on Sunday.”
Thiem, who saved break points in each of his first four service games, fought his way back into the first set by targeting Ruud’s backhand under a closed roof on the new Court Philippe-Chatrier. While the Austrian couldn’t convert a set point on Ruud’s serve at 5-4, in the next game Thiem struck five consecutive forehands to clinch the 58-minute opener.
“I started well and broke him,” said Ruud. “I guess he didn’t play his best or didn’t find his rhythm in the beginning of the match. So even though you’re up 3-1 in the first set, it doesn’t mean that it will go your way. And I got that, [‘m] not going to say a lesson, but I got that reminder today. He broke me right back and then I had some chances to break him back again. But he played some clutch shots on the clutch points and he showed how good a clay-court player he is and [much of a] fighter he is. It was a tough first set. It was a long first set. It was tough losing it.”
Ruud recovered from 0/40 in the first game of the second set, but Thiem’s persistence reaped dividends on his fifth break point opportunity. Ruud came close to drawing level at 2-2, but on two occasions unforced errors cost the 21-year-old on break points. He could only applaud at 3-5, when Thiem, standing just inside the baseline, struck a half volley backhand winner down the line to clinch a two sets lead.
Thiem’s greater weight of shot proved to be Ruud’s undoing in the third set, when the World No. 3 broke in the fourth game, through sheer consistency. From 1-1, he ran through the final five games, finishing with a second serve ace. Thiem hit 32 winners, including five aces, and converted six of his 15 break point chances in front of almost 1,000 spectators on the main show court.
World No. 25 Ruud, who lifted his first ATP Tour title in February at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (d. P. Sousa), is now 22-10 on the season. He recently reached the semi-finals at both the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to Djokovic) and at last week’s Hamburg European Open (l. to Rublev).
“It was another great experience for me to play here on the center court for the first time in my career,” said Ruud. “Hopefully, I will play more times on the Court Chatrier, and [I will] hopefully get some wins on it. It’s been a very good clay-court swing for me this year.”