WHAT HAPPENED: Ruud awakening. In front of a boisterous crowd under the lights in Grandstand, Casper Ruud, the 2022 US Open finalist, overcame some scratchy play and fought back from two sets to love down to defeat Shang Juncheng, 6-7(1), 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1, and advance to the Round of 16 at the 2024 US Open.
“The first two sets were not too fun and then the last three sets were very fun,” Ruud said in his on-court interview after the match. “Something clicked. I was a bit frustrated after the second set and said, ‘You know, time to go for it.’”
Shang—a 2021 US Open junior boys’ finalist—was vying for multiple firsts coming into the match. If he won, the teenager would become the first Chinese man in the Open Era to reach the Open's Round of 16, and he would also secure his first-ever victory against a Top 10 opponent. Ruud, meanwhile, was looking to punch his ticket into the second week in Flushing Meadows for the first time since he reached the final in 2022. (Prior to this battle, it remained the only year he recorded that achievement.)
Both players got off to a nervy start, trading breaks twice in the early stages. Ruud in particular struggled to defend his second serve, winning just 3 of those 14 points through the first seven games. They both began to play better as the set wore on, with Ruud beginning to crank his forehand to dictate play and Shang, undeterred, delighting the crowd with his shotmaking bonafides. The 19-year-old saved two set points serving at 4-5—one by pummeling a crosscourt backhand winner—then crushed a backhand winner down the line (after absorbing a flurry of Ruud forehands, no less) to claim the game and even the score. Two games later, the pair headed to a tiebreak.
Shang began the tiebreak passing Ruud at the net to earn a mini-break, and it only got worse from there for the Norwegian. Shang then raced out to a 6-1 lead as Ruud committed several unforced errors. On his first set point, Shang again passed his opponent at the net to claim the advantage in the scoreline. Including those in the final game, Shang won nine of the last ten points of the set.
The pair stayed on serve in the second until the drama-filled eighth game. As he served at 3-4, Ruud committed three errors in a row to go down 0-40. He saved all three break points and earned two chances to hold, but couldn’t convert either opportunity. On his fourth break point, Shang hit a forehand winner and prepared to serve for the set. That game, too, was no less dramatic, as the less-experienced player saved two break points en route to taking a two-set advantage.
Suddenly, momentum seemed to shift. Maybe it was the knowledge of recent history. After all, Shang had been in this position against a Top 10 player before, against Grigor Dimitrov on the grass at Wimbledon earlier in July, and in that match, the Bulgarian turned the scoreline around in five. Ruud took a first step toward achieving that result, quickly wrapping up the third 6-0. The Chinese player could only manage to win 27% of his first serve points, which no doubt contributed to the lopsided score after two relatively close sets. Shang quickly left the court to regroup.
Unfortunately for Shang, the respite didn’t help shift the momentum. Ruud’s serve and forehand weren’t necessarily asleep in the earlier sets, but both shots certainly felt more alert in the fourth. He began to more easily dictate points and grabbed a break early, never letting the lead slip. He took the fourth on the back of 13 winners and an 81% first serve percentage, erasing the lead Shang had amassed in the first two sets.
The early stages of the decider turned into an all-out battle one could only expect on a show court under the lights at Flushing Meadows. In just the first three games, the pair engaged in multiple rallies over ten shots, sometimes consecutively. After fighting (and failing) to hold serve in a protracted, 16-point, five deuce game, Shang looked gassed. He wouldn’t win another game. To loud roars of "Ruuuuuuud," the Norwegian completed the comeback, and the Chinese player lost his second straight Grand Slam match against a Top 10 seed after being up 2-0. For his efforts, Shang did receive a warm sendoff from the crowd as he left the court.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is Ruud’s second comeback from two sets to love down; he previously achieved the feat against Mackenzie McDonald at the 2020 US Open.
“Luckily I wasn’t down [a break] in the third set,” Ruud said. “I was kind of able to change the momentum early on and break him right away. That third set probably got some fire going and yeah, I just kept believing. I felt really in the zone in the last set and didn’t want to leave. So yes I was very happy. Second time in my career, second time in the US Open, so there’s something about this place I guess.”
Ruud next faces Taylor Fritz for a spot in a Grand Slam quarterfinal. It marks the second time this year the pair will meet in the Round of 16 at a major, after their battle on the clay at the French Open earlier this May. Ruud won that encounter, and he has also claimed their only other previous encounter, on hard courts at the ATP Finals in 2022.
MATCH POINT: Just some insight into how Ruud improved throughout the match: In the first set, Ruud captured 39% of his second serve points. In the fifth, he won 88%.
