Slow Start, Strong Finish

Ruud was able to avenge fellow Norwegian, Budkov Kjaer...

Both players are coming from impressive wins. Ruud started a bit nervously/slowly, but once he was able to find his range, there was no contest. Untouchable on serve and really good from both wings, especially his normally weaker backhand wing. Cilic had no answers once he could not find his way through. Korda came through in a deserved win in three sets against Majchrzak. I found him very good throughout the entire match overall. The issue was a loose service game in the second set... in other ways, what we usually see from Korda to make matches more difficult than they need to be. While Cilic was a bit limited with his offensive options, Korda has some more tools in his arsenal. He is better at constructing the points rather than forcing them with brute force (it's hard in these slow conditions to do so), and he is also a lot better at the net (also for serve & volley)... Cilic was atrocious whenever he came forward. It will be interesting to see if Ruud's backhand will once again hold up as well, cause he'll need that against Korda's excellent BH. I'm expecting a match with a decent amount of momentum swings... Korda's high ceiling, combined with Ruud's solid floor level that can exploit Korda's dips that tend to be quite big. I wouldn't be surprised to see a strong start from Korda, able to dictate and exploit the Ruud backhand early on. I feel like Korda's best chance is if he can close this match rather quickly; the longer it goes on, the more likely Ruud is to survive with a more consistent level he can lean on defensively!