Paris, June 5 (UNI) Casper Ruud roared back into the French Open last eight with a dogged 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5 win over Nicolas Jarry on Court Philippe-Chatrier here on Monday.
The Chilean overwhelmed Ruud from a set down 10 days ago enroute to lifting the Geneva title, but today's three-hour 20-minute contest built a different note.
The Norwegian 2022 finalist storms into the next round, either to face Holger Rune or Francisco Cerundolo.
From the outset, it looked, for sure, a see-saw contest in the offing. The World No.35 Jarry, already with a 19-6 clay record this year, earned five break points in an enthralling opening game, before Ruud seized the initiative at 3-0 up.
Jarry was finally on the scoreboard after 20 minutes and with his forehand firing, started to claim the extended rallies to redress the balance.
Blistering hits from both players pushed the set to a tiebreak. The world No.4 raised the tempo, and whilst Jarry committed some unforced errors, Ruud was resilient and smashed a backhand winner to take the 67-minute opener.
Hoping to become first Chilean in the last eight round since Fernando Gonzalez in 2009, Jarry catapulted to 3-1 with some swashbuckling hits.
Ruud responded, scorching a backhand pass just beyond the extensive wingspan of Jarry to help reel in the 27-year-old.
Another tiebreak was looming at 5-5 until Jarry netted an overhead hit from a lofted Ruud return. The Chilean pulled off a dinked backhand stop volley from shin height, but Ruud was too smart, too strong and his punchy serving secured the set.
Jarry's double offensive off his serve and forehand earned another break lead for 4-2 and a fourth set appeared on the horizon.
But Ruud had other ideas, the Norwegian finding his spots at the right time to rattle through five of the last six games, reported Roland-Garros portal.
Speaking to the broadcaster after the match, Ruud said, "This is a win, not just for me, but also for my team. We have done some great work over the past couple of years and I am happy to be back in the quarterfinals." UNI BDN