WHAT HAPPENED: Under the scorching sun above Stadium 17, Casper Ruud was pushed to the limit, and more, in the first set against a man making his Grand Slam debut. After coming through to take the first set, however, the world No. 8, known as “The Iceman,” set the court ablaze in cruising to a first-round victory.
Ruud, the 2022 US Open runner-up, made a winning start to his latest sojourn in New York, defeating Chinese qualifier Bu Yunchaokete 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2, in 2 hours, 14 minutes to advance to the second round.
Almost half of that time on court was spent on the opening set, a frame in which Bu used his powerful groundstrokes on both wings to earn the break to open the match, then hold in his first service game for the perfect start to his Grand Slam singles career.
After finally getting on the board at 1-2, Ruud then broke Bu at love to even the match, powered by two forehand winners during that game.
The rest of the set went without a break, though Ruud missed on a couple of more chances to do so. Those same opportunities were not wasted in the tiebreak by the Norwegian, however, who reeled off four consecutive points after the breaker was tied at 1-1 on his way to taking the first set in 57 minutes.
From there, the match was one-way traffic as Ruud employed a number of drop shots to bring the baseline-hugging Bu to the net to keep him off balance. That strategy paid off, as Ruud won 71 percent of his total net points (15 of 21). Furthermore, Ruud took advantage of Bu’s vulnerable second serve, winning a whopping 18 of 24 points in the second and third sets combined.
WHAT IT MEANS: Since his run to the semifinals on the clay of Roland Garros this spring, Ruud has won five matches overall, but just two on the ATP Tour. Three of those victories came in Paris once more, but during the Paris Olympics in which the Norwegian made the quarterfinals. After having to withdraw from Montréal before his Round of 16 match against Sebastian Korda due to illness and then losing in his first match in Cincinnati to Felix Auger-Aliassime (to whom Ruud lost at the Olympics), the Norwegian hopes to regain the form on hard courts that saw him come a couple of sets away from winning in Flushing Meadows two years ago.
MATCH POINT: After a somewhat-muted atmosphere for his first-round match, Ruud is sure to experience a much more raucous reception on Wednesday. Ruud’s second-round opponent will either be Frenchman Gael Monfils or Argentinian Diego Schwartzman, the latter playing in his final Grand Slam tournament before he plans to retire from the sport in February 2025.
