Fifth seed Casper Ruud of Norway beat 13th seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy 6-1 6-4 7-6 to in the quarterfinals of the US Open on Tuesday. He will take on Karen Khachanov of Russia in the semifinal on Friday.
Tuesday’s match lasted for two hours and 35 minutes as the 23-year-old Norwegian, who was the runner-up at the French Open earlier this year, cruised to a comfortable win in the end. Now, we take a look at three things that stood out in the match:
Casper Ruud def. Matteo Berrettini
#1 Ruud walked away with the first set as an error-prone Berrettini struggled to win points:
Ruud was off to a blistering start to the match, winning the first five games easily. Berrettini finally won a game to reduce the deficit to 1-5, but Ruud then served out the first set without any problem. Ruud’s dominance can be gauged from the fact that Berrettini could win only seven points in the first five games of the first set.
Ruud kept pounding Berrettini’s backhand from the beginning, quite expectedly, but the Italian made his opponent’s job easier by hitting a few balls wide himself. Berrettini’s profligacy off either wing ensured that Ruud could walk away with the first set.
#2 Berrettini’s late resurgence was not enough as Ruud won the second set as well:
Ruud again started well in the second set by breaking Berrettini in the third game and then holding his serve to lead 3-1. The lead then became 5-2 as the Norwegian seemed to be winning the second set with too much ease as well. However, Berrettini then got a break back to reduce the deficit to 4-5. However, Ruud did not err in serving out the set in the next game.
Berrettini started serving to Ruud’s backhand on the ad court more frequently in the second set and then finished with forehand winners to the open court. He also started rushing the net more frequently and played a few drop shots to drag Ruud into the net. However, the Norwegian showed exceptional court-coverage to reach to the ball repeatedly.
#3 Berrettini’s improvement continued, but Ruud managed to win the third set:
By the beginning of the third set, Berrettini was in his element, sending in powerful serves and hitting blistering forehand winners. Berrettini led 5-3 by breaking Ruud once, but the Norwegian bounced back to level the score at 5-5.
The third set then went into a tie-break, which saw Ruud race to a 3-0 lead. Berrettini managed to win a few points then, but the unforced errors continued to deter him as the Norwegian won the tie-break to finish the match.
Berrettini hit 35 winners, including 13 aces, in the match against Ruud’s 20. However, the 26-year-old Italian also committed 39 unforced errors against Ruud’s 23, as the Norwegian’s more disciplined and controlled approach paid off handsomely.
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