Alejandro Davidovich is already in the quarterfinals of the Toronto ATP after beating Casper Ruud with a score of 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) in 3 hours. With a break in between due to rain, the Spaniard ended up winning in a match that took many turns and in which he knew how to redirect his doubts and take advantage of those of his rival. His next rival: Mackenzie McDonald.
The Norwegian started these round of 16 Toronto without much trouble, while Davidovich He was the first to face two break balls against, although he managed to neutralize them with good forehands. Until then, the wind was doing its thing, blowing very hard and making it difficult for a player to serve. Ruud who got out of trouble saving a 0-30 that gave the Spanish wings. And it is that the mistakes that Davidovioch made later did not help him to enjoy his first break point yet. 4 equal.
The Norwegian began to vary the height of his shots more, using the wind as help and taking the man from Malaga off the track. A drop that does not go beyond the net and the Spanish trembled with the deuce, but did not shrink to masterfully execute another that meant the 5 of all. The rest wanted to try and risk a little more with the lines, but Ruud brought out his right hand.
With a more solid Davidovich in this last section of the set, he served blankly to send the match to a tie break. And what a tie break. All the points were winning over the rest until the Spaniard broke the streak. With great seriousness throughout the tie-break and with a little more power and level from the baseline, Davidovich closed it out in style after 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Davidovich gets involved again against a more regular Ruud
With his particular struggle to make fewer mistakes than winning points, Davidovich overcame those unforced errors against a very linear Ruud, but who was less brave than his rival in that sudden death. In this second sleeve, the man from Malaga continued with the tonic of seriousness and remained very focused on his first serve. Something that the Norwegian could have made him doubt a bit.
And it is that the Spaniard took his first break ball in the entire match after a great defensive capacity and power in his blows and in his legs. But Ruud saved and turned the circumstances around by breaking the malagueño’s serve after giving his tennis an extra. Although he had some lower back problems that the physio had to treat him for, he didn’t seem to be of any great importance.
Shortly after, the rain became the protagonist of the match and it had to be suspended for a couple of hours or so. On the return, the Norwegian started a bit cold and uncomfortable on serve, for which he made a couple of mistakes that made him concede his serve. However, everything took a radical turn when it seemed that Davidovich had entered plugged in. A game came in which he made a mess and broke the serve by himself due to his mistakes, thus giving away his game to the Norwegian who closed the set to equalize the match.
The Spanish do not throw in the towel
It was no better in the third set. Davidovich continued with that lack of confidence in what he was doing and first conceded the kick from him to a serious, involved and fast Ruud. But little by little the Spaniard loosened up and improved each turn of service to also try to turn it around against a Norwegian who showed no signs of weakness. On the contrary, Ruud knew how to control dominance in this third set and sign great rallies that fell on his side.
That growth of confidence paid off for the man from Malaga, who squeezed Ruud when he served to win. The mistakes of his rival also helped him, as he shrank from those typical nerves of closing a match. Break and serve to tie the set at 5. With shadows and lights in this complicated turn of duty, the Spaniard managed to come out unscathed and reinforced to end up risking it in the tie break again. And here Davidovich was the absolute leader to end up defeating a Ruud who erred too much.
2023-08-10 20:01:19
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