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Francisco Cerundolo held off his own nerves and a strong comeback from Casper Ruud to cause a second-round upset and achieve his first Top 10 win at the Nordea Open in Bastad on Wednesday.
Cerundolo broke French Open finalist Ruud's serve three times to run out a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 winner at the ATP 250 event in Sweden. Despite the World No. 5 Ruud increasing his level after a slow beginning to make pressure on the 23-year-old Argentine, Cerundolo seized a strong break in the 12th game of the third set to reach the quarter-finals in Bastad for the first time. "I'm feeling amazing, I'm really happy. It's amazing getting my first Top 10 win. It's been the best year so far in my career. He's a French Open finalist and was the defending champion here, so it was a big challenge for me and I'm happy to go through," said Cerundolo after the match. "I think the key was to be offensive and try to dictate the point. Playing intelligently with my forehand and trying to put him on defence," said Cerundolo. "It's always tough to beat the best players. I got tight at the end, but I stayed there and got the ball in, and I'm really happy," he added. Cerundolo, who is up to No. 35 in the ATP Rankings, will next face Aslan Karatsev as he seeks his third tour-level semi-final of 2022. The 28-year-old Karatsev was a 6-2, 6-4 second-round winner against Hugo Gaston in Sweden to advance to his maiden Tour quarter-final since Marseille in February. (ANI)
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