3 things that stood out in Casper Ruud's 1R win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 2022 French Open
Eighth seed Casper Ruud of Norway beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 6-7(6), 7-6(4), 6-2, 7-6(0) in a first-round match that went on for almost four hours at the French Open on Monday. It turned out be Tsonga’s swansong in front of a partisan home crowd, who rooted for him vociferously throughout the match.
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The 37-year-old former World No. 5 suffered an injury to his right shoulder in the fourth set and could not recover from it. The 23-year-old Ruud, meanwhile, kept his composure and finished the match calmly.
On that note, let’s take a look at three factors that stood out in the match:
#1 Ruud and Tsonga exchanged blows in the first 2 sets and won a set apiece
It was always going to be a match between two players with big forehands and the first two sets lived up to the expectations of the spectators. The two players exchanged blows from the baseline and hit some powerful forehands in the process.
Each of the first two sets ended in a tie-break, with Tsonga prevailing in the first and Ruud managing to draw level in the second. Tsonga hit some powerful groundstrokes, but also committed 34 unforced errors against Casper Ruud’s 11 in the first two sets.
#2 Ruud imparted more top spin to his shots as Tsonga remained erratic
At the start of the third set, Ruud started playing his shots higher and also imparted more top spin in order to take the pace off the ball. As a result, Tsonga was forced to hit his shots with more power and committed many unforced errors in the process.
Tsonga started playing down-the-line backhand slices but the Norwegian responded with powerful inside-out forehands to finish the points. Ruud succeeded in breaking Tsonga twice in the third set as the Frenchman started to look sluggish.
Tsonga also began to rush the net repeatedly despite hitting inadequate approach shots, allowing the Norwegian to easily pass him.
#3 Tsonga played his crosscourt forehands to good effect in the fourth set, but the injury did him in
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga adopted an interesting tactic in the fourth set. He started hitting crosscourt forehands with deep angles to move Ruud to his forehand wing frequently. As a result, the Norwegian was often not in a position to hit his forehand with the usual power.
Tsonga benefitted from this and succeeded in breaking Casper Ruud in the 11th game of the fourth set to lead 6-5. However, he sustained an injury in the process and had to battle through the remainder of the match. He could barely hit his serve and forehand as Ruud broke back immediately and then walked away with the subsequent tie-break, winning it 7-0.
Tsonga finished the match with 61 unforced errors while Ruud was much more disciplined and committed only 25. The Norwegian will face Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round on Thursday.
Also Check Out :- French Open 2022 Results