Casper Ruud defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime (7/6 6/4) during the group stages of the ATP Finals on October, the 13th, in Turin.
The Norwegian plays for the second consecutive time at the ATP Finals. Currently fourth in the ATP Rankings, this qualification rewards the best season of his career. He has won three titles so far and reached two Grand Slam finals (at the French Open and the US Open).
Felix Auger-Aliassime has finally converted the hopes that lay within him. The young Canadian talent clinched his first career title at the ABN AMRO Open in February. After numerous defeats in finals, this first win seems to have given him a new lease on life. He then won three titles in as many weeks in October (Firenze, Antwerp, Basel). This amazing end of season enabled him to reach the sixth place in the ATP Rankings.
The match was made of powerful rallies from the back of the court. From the first points, Casper Ruud played with topspin to give volume to his balls. Forced to stand back, Felix Auger-Aliassime couldn’t enforce his usual aggressiveness. The latter made more unforced errors than his opponent. Nevertheless, he wasn’t worried during his games of serve thanks to brilliant first balls. As for Casper Ruud, he multiplied love games – helped by shy returns from Felix Auger-Aliassime. This set with no break points ended up in a tiebreak. Betrayed by his lack of first serves and his feverish backhand, the Canadian caved in 4-7.
During the second set, Casper Ruud showed the extent of his aggressiveness. Thanks to his early and lifted balls, he took Felix Auger-Aliassime by storm. The latter seemed tensed. Dominated during the long rallies, he didn’t manage to imprint his constructed-forward game: 3/3. Combined with his haste, the young Canadian’s aggressiveness backfired. A sequence of unforced errors granted a first break point to his opponent. Casper Ruud led 4/3 after a double fault from Felix Auger-Aliassime. Each player kept his remaining games of serve. The Norwegian clinched the win: 7/6 6/4.
During this encounter, the two players didn’t demonstrate a flaming tennis. The stakes of the tournament were felt in Felix Auger-Aliassime’s game: his points lacked constructiveness; his shots lacked power. As for Casper Ruud, he let his opponent play without taking any risks. He won thanks to his consistency.
In view of the last few weeks on the tour, Felix Auger-Aliassime started the match as the favorite. He arrived at the Rolex Paris Master with a 16-games winning streak underway and lost to the winner of the tournament, Holger Rune. As for Casper Ruud, he has had a string of disappointing results since the final of the US Open. Nevertheless, the Norwegian player once again demonstrated his faultless handling of important events.
Marnie Abbou
