Matteo Arnaldi of Italy stunned third seed Casper Ruud of Norway 6-3 6-4 in the second round of the Madrid Open on Friday, as the string of upsets continued in the tournament. Arnaldi thus became the second Italian ranked outside the Top 100 in the world to knock out a heavyweight player, after Andrea Vavassori upset Andy Murray on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the underwhelming run continued for the 24-year-old Norwegian on his favorite surface. Ruud was the runner-up at the French Open in 2022, but that seems to be a distant memory now. He will have to get his act together if he has to repeat the heroics of last year at Roland Garros this June.
On that note, we will take a look at how the match progressed:
Ruud did not have enough firepower in his shots to trouble Matteo Arnaldi:
Ruud, who is usually so very reliant on his powerful forehand, tried to impart more topspin into his shots, but it did not have the desired effect. Instead, it allowed Matteo Arnaldi enough time to set up his strokes nicely.
Ruud also hit a number of his inside-out forehands and crosscourt backhands towards Arnaldi’s backhand, but the latter often ran around his backhand to deal with them successfully. The 22-year-old Italian broke Ruud in the fourth game of the first set and then kept holding his serve to win the first set.
Arnaldi played his approaches well to finish points from the forecourt:
As the match progressed, Arnaldi started playing nice approaches at regular interval. He then ventured forward to finish points with powerful volleys. He also played a few quality drop shots to surprise the Norwegian.
Arnaldi got the decisive break in the seventh game of the second set and then held his serve to lead 5-3. He then proceeded to serve the match out in the 10th game. Arnaldi won 71% of the points on his first serve in the match, while Ruud managed only 60%.
Main Photo Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
