PARIS – Casper Ruud, runner-up a year ago, fought his way into the French Open quarter-finals as he ended the resilience of Chile’s Nicolas Jarry in a lengthy 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, 7-5 victory on Monday.
The fourth seed from Norway struggled to keep things under control against clay-court specialist Jarry, who led in the second and third sets but could not convert.
Ruud will next take on either Dane Holger Rune in a rematch of their quarter-final in 2022, or Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.
“If we had gone five sets, I don’t know how long we would have played. I have to thank my team for pushing me in practice. I did the work and physically I was ready for more,” said Ruud on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Ruud wasted a break advantage and was pushed into a tiebreak, which he won easily. Possibly lulled into a false sense of safety, the 24-year-old fell 4-1 behind in the second set but rallied and won six of the remaining seven games to edge closer to victory.
The lanky 35th-ranked Chilean, taking part in his first last-16 singles match at a Grand Slam, did not give up and again took the first break in the third set.
With his big shots, Jarry was always in the contest. If the match had been played on a smaller court, the outcome might have been different as no player would have wanted to be Ruud against such a huge first serve.
“It is probably the biggest clay court in the world, so it made the returns easier and safer,” said Ruud after his 3hr 20min battle.
It was also a long-fought encounter over at Court Suzanne Lenglen, where Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia came back from a set and 3-0 down to defeat Sara Sorribes Tormo in a 3hr 51min epic to reach a maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
The 27-year-old left-hander came through 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 7-5 against her 132nd-ranked Spanish opponent in the longest women’s match of this edition.
It was also the third-longest women’s match at Roland Garros, just 16 minutes short of the record 4hr 7min it took Virginie Buisson to beat French compatriot Noelle van Lottum in the first round in 1995.
Haddad Maia, ranked 14th, will next face Ons Jabeur for a place in the semi-finals.
The world No. 7 is hoping the romantic atmosphere of Paris will help her quest for a maiden Grand Slam title after reaching the French Open quarter-finals for the first time on Monday.
The 28-year-old Tunisian blitzed American Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-1 and became the first player from Africa to reach the quarter-finals at each of the four Majors in the Open era.
“Paris is always romantic, day or night. Winning here will definitely be an amazing memory for me. For now, I just want to take it one match at a time,” Jabeur said.
Coco Gauff, finalist in 2022, is in the last eight after a 7-5, 6-2 win over world No. 100 Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
The American will be anxious who she meets next – either world No. 1 Iga Swiatek or Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko. She lost to Swiatek in the 2022 final, so she may be getting a chance for revenge.
However, it will be a politically charged, last-eight clash after Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka overcame Sloane Stephens 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to set up a clash with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
The world No. 2 Sabalenka, who has snubbed the media after being grilled about Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, can expect a hostile reception from the fickle Parisian crowd when she plays Svitolina on Tuesday, if Daria Kasatkina’s experience is anything to go by.
The Russian said she left the tournament with a sense of bitterness after being booed off by the crowd following her fourth-round defeat by Svitolina.
“Leaving Paris with a very bitter feeling. All these days, after every match I’ve played in Paris I always appreciated and thanked the crowd for their support and being there for the players,” Kasatkina wrote on Twitter.
“But yesterday I was booed for just being respectful on my opponent’s position not to shake hands. Me and Elina showed respect to each other after a tough match but leaving the court like that was the worst part of yesterday.
“Be better, love each other. Don’t spread hate.” REUTERS, AFP
