A great Ruud makes the ATP Finals very difficult for Jódar

Casper Ruud This Tuesday he defeated with authority Rafa Jodar in the second round of the Paris Masters 1000. The Norwegian won 6-3 and 6-4 to leave the Spaniard out of the last tournament of the season series and, also, in the hands of his rivals in the fight for a passport to the ATP Finals.

Dominating from the bottom of the French indoor hard court, tremendously solid and with the lesson learned to be ambitious and look for the net at every opportunity, Ruud controlled the game and was much better with the rest. With this he has built a solid victory that complicates Jódar’s presence in Turin.

The Spaniard remains ninth in the ‘Race’ and in provisional eighth place, but it is in the hands of their rivals to qualify for the ATP Finals. Álex de Minaur will mathematically leave him out if he wins his next matchbut in the event that this does not happen they also have options to overtake him Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, all of them living in Paris.

In short, Jódar no longer depends on himself, who has not been able to dominate against an important rival like Ruud, now twenty-third in the world but for a long time established in the top-10. Ruud hit the start with a break as soon as the match started and since then he has shown solidity to take Jódar in tow with few options to return the coin.

Jódar got off to an erratic start, surpassed in the rallies by Ruud who was looking for long and wearable points, moving with his backhand and being incisive in the rest. At the first opportunity the Norwegian broke the Spaniard’s serve, but his mistakes in the subsequent game They opened the window from 15-40 to Jódar. Ruud closed it to gain confidence.

Since then, he solved every compromised situation, solid with his forehand from the back of the court, without fear to gain ground on the net and try to lock up Jódar. At times Rafa tried to copy his tactics, but he was already at the mercy of a result that Ruud couldn’t finish the rest, but he could finish the serve for 6-3.

It was time to start again for Jódar who did better with his serve in the second set and who had his chance. In the fourth game, based on great returns, a 0-40 was generated that allowed him to complete his first break in the match. But What seemed to be a turning point was not: Ruud increased his aggressiveness again to the rest and immediately recovered the disadvantage.

Solid with his serve, Ruud broke Jódar’s again for 5-4, dominating the long rallies to establish his solidity in the finishing line. In it he did not hesitate with his very tight forehand to complete the pass to the round of 16 of the Paris Masters 1000. Jódar says goodbye to the French tournament and It is up to their rivals to see if their next stop is the ATP Finals or the Davis Cup Finals.