Norway’s Casper Ruud has described Andy Muray as an inspiration following their first Tour meeting at the San Diego Open on Thursday.
The second seed was given a stern test from the Brit before prevailing 7-5, 6-4, after almost two hours of play. Ruud had to recover from a 1-3 deficit in the first set and then drop serve another two times during the second. Overall, he won 63% of his service points and converted five out of his six break point opportunities en route to victory.
This week Ruud is seeking his fifth ATP title of the year but his first on a hardcourt. During the summer he won three consecutive European clay court tournaments within as many weeks. Coincidentally the last player to do that on the Tour before him was Murray in 2011 whom he paid tribute to following their match.
“On the opposite side of the net from me was a legend of the game for the past decade or so, even what he’s done now for the past year, fighting his way back from very serious injury has been an inspiration for me,” Ruud said in his on-court interview.
“For the previous 10 or 15 years he’s been an inspiration to watch on TV, the way he fights and always finds a way to never give up.
“The way he plays has been amazing. It’s been an unfortunate couple of years for him but it’s great to see him back and I think he was playing at a high level.”
The 22-year-old will next play Lorenzo Sonego in the quarter-finals who beat Sebastian Korda in straight sets. It will be the second meeting between the two players after the 2020 Italian Open which Ruud won in straight sets.
“It’s nice to be here in San Diego. It’s my first time. It’s a great city,” he said. “Tennis players, we usually never get to see much of the west coast… to have an event here in San Diego, I hope they can repeat it for more years in the future.”
Meanwhile, Murray will be shortly heading off to Indian Wells after receiving a wild card to play in the main draw of the Masters event. The Brit is targeting a spot back inside the world’s top 100 after producing some encouraging performances in recent weeks. At the US Open he took Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets before losing. More recently, in Metz he reached his first Tour quarter-final of the season.
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