Casper Ruud claims Marcos Giron didn’t let him ‘get into the rhythm’ as the Norwegian crashes out in the second round in Japan

The defeat dents Ruud's chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals.

Casper Ruud claims Marcos Giron didn’t let him ‘get into the rhythm’ as the Norwegian crashes out in the second round in Japan

(L) Marcos Giron; (R) Casper Ruud (Via Reuters)

2nd seed Casper Ruud crashed out of the Japan Open as he suffered a huge upset at the hands of American pro Marcos Giron. The world no.79 defeated the Norwegian 6-3,6-4 in 1 hour and 21 minutes to book a quarter-final encounter against the 8th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime. This was Giron’s third top-10 win of his career as he improved his season win/loss record to 25/25.

The California native was great on his serve as he hit 9 aces while conceding just one break point. With the win, Giron has leveled the head-to-head at 1-1. The defeat has handed a huge blow to Ruud’s chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals to be played in Turin, Italy. The Norwegian is 10th in the race to qualify for the year-end championships. Ruud’s Asian swing hasn’t gone as planned as he ends with a win/loss record of 5-3 with the highest finish coming at the China Open where he was defeated by Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYsPeRKOYu8&pp=ygULY2FzcGVyIHJ1dWQ%3D

Assessing his last few weeks on the tour Ruud told the press that it was not what he was hoping for. The world no.8 hasn’t enjoyed much success in Tokyo though as he was knocked out in the first round of the tournament last year. Comparing this year’s performance to the last, Ruud remarked, “I think it went better than last year so what can you say, I played better than last year, for sure.”

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The 24-year-old isn’t ready to slow down as he expressed his desire to fight for the remaining titles in the year. “There’s still a couple of weeks to go and I’ll keep my head high and try to fight in the last couple of weeks of the year,” he said.

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Casper Ruud assesses his defeat against Marcos Giron

Assessing his shock second-round defeat against Giro, Casper Ruud said that he wasn’t able to get into his rhythm during the match. “I tried to play the same level as I did yesterday – maybe I wasn’t able to but it’s OK, it’s not always easy to shift from one day to the other with different opponents. I wasn’t able to be ready enough for his game and counter his game,” he added.

The defeat has dented Ruud’s chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals as he trails Holger Rune who’s in the last qualifying position by  295 points. The Norwegian was the runner-up in the last edition of the tournament as he was defeated by Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the final.

Next up, Ruud will play at the Swiss Indoors Basel, starting on 23rd October.

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