Top 10 stars Casper Ruud and Holger Rune were both involved in four-set matches Monday at the US Open but only Ruud survived his first-round test at the hard-court major in New York.
The 2022 finalist Ruud held off home qualifier Emilio Nava 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) on Court 17 at Flushing Meadows for his 200th tour-level victory. The fifth seed overcame an uber-aggressive performance from the 21-year-old Nava, who struck a remarkable 72 winners to Ruud’s 27 but was unable to find the consistency required to pull off an upset.
Aware of his opponent’s desire to dictate, Ruud stayed cool and offered up just 21 unforced errors to Nava’s 49 across the four sets. That approach was particularly key in the tie-breaks he won in the first and fourth sets, as Ruud’s greater experience told under pressure.
Ruud is now 10-5 at the US Open, where he fell to Carlos Alcaraz in last year’s championship match. His next opponent as he seeks another deep run at Flushing Meadows will be Zhang Zhizhen, after the Chinese star defied a J.J. Wolf comeback for a 7-5, 7-5, 6-7(5), 4-6, 6-3 first-round win.
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Roberto Carballes Baena earlier engineered the first major upset of the fortnight in New York as the World No. 63 defeated fourth seed Rune 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Carballes Baena broke Rune seven times on Court 5 as he registered his first Top 10 win at the 14th attempt in two hours, 42 minutes. He stayed rock-solid against a visibly frustrated Rune, who has now lost four straight tour-level matches stretching back to his quarter-final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon.
A STUNNING WIN 👏
The moment @Robertocarba93 secured the first Top 10 win of his career!
🎥 @usopen | #USOpen pic.twitter.com/NEK6GiRocf
— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 28, 2023
The 30-year-old Carballes Baena made just 21 unforced errors to Rune’s 43, frugality which kept the Dane under constant pressure throughout the pair’s first meeting since Wimbledon. Rune was a straight-sets winner at SW19 but could not raise his level consistently enough in Monday’s clash in New York to prevent Carballes Baena taking a 2-1 Lexus ATP Head2Head series lead against the World No. 4.
Now into the second round for the fifth time in six main-draw appearances at Flushing Meadows, Carballes Baena next faces Jiri Lehecka or Aslan Karatsev as he looks to reach the third round for the first time.
“Disappointing day today,” Rune said. “I had, as you know, a setback after the tournaments in Toronto and Cincy, where I had to retire. Not the best preparation I had.
“Not satisfied with the result obviously, but also with my tennis. There is only one way, and it’s to work.”
Rune, who received treatment to his left leg after the fifth game of the third set, said that he would investigate the source of his discomfort.
“I think also one of the reasons, you know, it’s not ideal that I didn’t get more matches coming into this tournament, because the body, it’s hard if you’re not in the rhythm for the body,” he said. “Start feeling something on my left leg behind the knee. Not muscular, so I don’t know, I have to check what it is. I felt it, the treatment helped a little bit.”
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