Finalist of the last edition, the Norwegian again joined the last four of Roland-Garros on Wednesday.
Between Scandinavians, the fight will have been bitter to close the men’s quarter-finals of Roland-Garros, Wednesday June 7. Less than at the time of the Vikings, fortunately, but still fierce between the Norwegian Casper Ruud, and the young Danish wolf Holger Rune, finally tamed (6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 ). For 2h44, this intense fight opposed two men who do not like each other – they had already not hidden it last year on the same battlefield – at the same stage of the competition.
A year later, for this icy reunion between Nordiques, it was Casper Ruud who again won on the clay courts of Porte d’Auteuil, and who reached the semi-finals.
When the Chatrier audience chants your name against all odds, it’s not necessarily a good thing. Often, it’s because he sides with the outsider, the mistreated. This was again the case this Wednesday evening, when Holger Rune was on one knee after two sets, completely surpassed by Casper Ruud. The Norwegian had just concluded the second set in just over an hour (6-1, 6-2), and the public, more than out of love for the Dane, was above all worried about witnessing a new quick meeting. “We didn’t pay for that”even launched a spectator, more frank than the others.
Ruud, the quiet force
What made the difference is that this support of circumstance, Holger Rune managed to transform it into strength. By ostensibly celebrating each point collected, the Dane put the public in the pocket, and the energy of the crowd brought him back to life. Transformed, he thus went for the third set (6-3), finally taking the game on his own. Seduced by the Dane’s showman side, the spectators got into the game. But Rune’s strength is also his weakness, the latter seeking a little too much to shine sometimes. Against Ruud, he too often looked for the perfect shot, rather than the winning shot, which explains a large part of his unforced errors (18 in the first set alone). A youthful sin, no doubt.
When the Chatrier calmed down, once the fourth set started, Rune’s clumsiness and imprecision came back in full force. As if its evening level was conditioned by that of the decibels in the stands. On the other side of the net, Casper Ruud has never deviated from his line of conduct. Admittedly, the Norwegian is less flamboyant, but he was more efficient, more reliable and smarter. Moreover, the longest exchanges of the evening often tipped in his favor. Even when the tide turned, Ruud remained calm, stoic, in his match, unlike Rune who went to reprimand the referee for a foolishly conceded break in the fourth set.
Like last year, it was therefore the Norwegian who defeated the Dane, at the gates of the last four, despite the psychological advantage taken a few weeks ago by Rune in the semi-finals of the Rome tournament. To find the Roland-Garros final, a year after his defeat against Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud will have to get rid of the ghost Alexander Zverev this time.