Casper’s nemesis.

Cerundolo leads 2–0 against the Norwegian and quite simply beat him in Ruud’s last official match.

Knowing Ruud, he will have prepared his match very well tactically, because he’s the kind of player who makes a point of getting revenge when someone beats him. So yes, you could say that he had already lost in Geneva last year to JM Cerundolo before playing him again in the same place and losing once more, but the context is different in the sense that it was a comeback tournament for Ruud and he maybe wasn’t properly up to speed yet. With a few extra weeks of training and inevitably growing motivation for this Masters 1000, the Norwegian is going to be an even tougher nut to crack.

It’s a tournament where he’s already reached the semi-finals in the past. That could inspire him. And even if Ruud is a clay-courter, I think that in this particular match-up it’s more advantageous for him to play on hard, because he needs to be able to impose some pace and break the very specific rhythm that Cerundolo likes to dictate.

I also wanted to talk about Cerundolo and highlight his strengths because I’m impressed by his transformation this season. Even if his first-round opponent was hampered and not at all combative after one set, that was also because Cerundolo just wasn’t giving him any options. The Argentine is now hitting a ton more aces and managing to adapt his game. We still see him slice from time to time, loop his shots and look to slow down the pace, which is still his DNA, but he’s also understood that he needed to be much more aggressive on serve and simply mix things up. The result is that we now have an ultra-solid baseliner who’s gained precision and power on serve and is really starting to play well everywhere. Honestly, this season, I rate him highly for all these reasons.

Potentially a high-level encounter; in any case, it’s going to be a real battle. I haven’t forgotten that in both of Ruud’s defeats, the Norwegian still led by a break and a set each time before collapsing in comeback tournaments where he hadn’t played because of the grass season. If he’s regained enough physical condition since then and finds himself in front again, this time I don’t think he’ll crack and let the opportunity slip. That’s my view. Do you think Cerundolo can still pull it off?