By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday March 31, 2022
Casper Ruud was known primarily as a rising clay-courter until 2021, but since last season the Norwegian has proven himself to be a two-surface star. Ruud was 16-27 on hard prior to 2021, but the 23-year-old has won 35 and lost just 13 on the surface since, including his first hard court title at San Diego last October, and his first hard court Masters 1000 semifinal, which he reached last night with his victory over Alexander Zverev.
Ruud called the aforementioned win over World No.4 Zverev the biggest of his career last night.
“Obviously an exciting night and the biggest win of my career so far,” he told reporters in Miami. “This is now the fourth time I'm reaching a semifinal in a Masters 1000 event, and like you said, first time on hard court so that means it's a little bit extra special for me.
“Let's see if I can take what I have learned from the three previous semifinals where unfortunately I lost all of them and see if I can turn it around and make the fourth time the lucky charm.”
Playing for First Masters 1000 Final
Ruud hopes to become the first Norwegian to play a Masters 1000 final, but to do that he’ll have to play his way past the dark horse of the tournament, Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
The 23-year-old from Buenos Aires has produced a breakout performance in Miami. He had never won a match on hard courts, and never played a match in a Masters 1000 event prior to this tournament. Now he’ll play Ruud for a spot in the final.
“I hope I can take initiative, of course,” Ruud said. “Let's see. I have never played against him and I haven't watched him play too much, to be honest. But obviously he's had a great climb in the ranking in the past two, three years. When I was a junior, he's same age as me, I believe, but no one really heard about him because he didn't play too much juniors.
“Now in the past years he's climbed up well, and this week is probably the best week of his career. He's in a good flow, so my job will of course be to try to stop him.”