Turin Masters – Djokovic – Ruud: The world number one starts his week with a success

The king has martyred the rookie. Faced with a Casper Ruud who was taking his first steps at the Masters, Novak Djokovic had a diesel start before finishing very strong against the world number 8. The recent winner of the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy finally only needed 1h30 to overcome the Norwegian (7-6, 6-2), the most affordable opponent for him in this green group, and her quest for a sixth title in the Masters tournament is off to a perfect start.

It was the worst possible entry into the toughest tournament of the year for a 22-year-old, and as expected, Casper Ruud broke his teeth against juggernaut Novak Djokovic in Turin. However, the Norwegian, winner of 5 titles this season, had made a great start, well helped by a “Djoker” running in service. Almost unable to pass a first ball, author of a slip on the break point obtained from entry by his opponent, the man with the 20 Grand Slams saw Ruud lead quickly 2-0.

90% of points won behind his first ball for “Nole”

Despite a few signs of anger released here and there during the game, the Serbian never panicked, and he gradually raised his level of play to gain the upper hand over an opponent who did everything possible to stay in the game, in vain. The fault in an inconstancy summarized by the statistics of the 8th world serving: 9 aces, but 4 double faults. It is in this way that he allowed Djokovic to go back to 3 everywhere in the first act.

From then on, the Balkan steamroller began to impose its rhythm. Thanks to some sublime points, he managed to get two set points but Ruud managed to push his opponent to the tie break, where after leading 4-3, he was still too feverish at key moments to take it away.

Reassured by the gain of the first round, the protégé of Marian Vajda therefore only dropped crumbs in the service (10 aces), with this hallucinating percentage of first balls in the second set (94%), and a rate of success behind his first ball which prevented the Norwegian from rebelling (90% of points won over the whole match).

Well helped by two big faults from his opponent, the Serbian broke from the start of the second act, before flying to 5-1 and then concluding the match on a winning service, releasing exactly the same number of plays as in of his first victory over Ruud in Rome last year (8). His success, the 39th of his career at the Masters, allows him to join Ivan Lendl in the ranking of the most victorious men in this tournament, far behind the untouchable Federer (59), and to reassure himself before a series of meetings that take place. announce more trying for him.