Seeded #1 in the Estoril ATP Tournament, Casper Ruud beat hometown Joao Souza in his debut despite losing in the first round.
Casper Road did not miss his reunion with Mud. The finalist of the last Roland Garros did not have an easy task entering the race at the ATP tournament in Estoril as the number one seed. It is, in fact, local stage and 2018 winner Joao Souza who was his first opponent on Wednesday. A meeting in which the world No. 5 undoubtedly could have started better if he had been able to convert his first break point, obtained in the fourth game. Indeed, in this operation, it was the Portuguese who managed to serve the Norwegian at the first opportunity.
From there, both players held their service games firmly. On the second set point, Joao Sousa advanced in this round of 16. Casper Road’s response was swift. After winning a serve at the start of the second set, the world number five got the Portuguese. The 147th player in the world had the opportunity to return, but he did not succeed. Then the Norwegian allowed a double penetration. The rise of Estoril’s No. 1 seed didn’t go too far for growth in the sixth marathon game.
Top seeds by Estoril 👏@employee He fought back against Souza 4-6 6-2 6-2.@employee | # Estoril pic.twitter.com/du8ABwuHOS
– ATP Tour (atptour) April 5, 2023
It was Rod’s last word
But, after saving four break points and his fourth match point, Joao Sousa held onto the rank. However, Casper Rudd ended up taking his opponent’s serve for the second time, in a closed session to tie it up in one set all around. The last set saw the Portuguese lose a break point before clinging to serve. However, Casper Rudd was able to persist, and at the fifth breaking point, he was in the lead. An advantage that the world number 5 reinforced by serving his opponent for the second time in a row. The Norwegian, who led five games to one, shuddered at the close of the match.
Without picking up the slightest match point in his encounter, he saw Joao Sousa erase one of his two late breaks and recreate the suspense of this meeting… by barely a few minutes. In fact, Casper Rhode did not miss the chance to end the meeting twice. On Joao Souza’s commitment and second match point, the world number 5 managed to finish the match (4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in 2 hours 15 minutes).. Sebastian Paez, the defending champion and winner from compatriot Pedro Cachin (6-4, 7-6 in 2 hours 11 minutes) will be on his way to the quarter-finals.
