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Ruud comes back to cut Bautista’s winning streak

Robert Baptist embroidered tennis for much of a magnificent match against Casper Ruud, but the Norwegian imposed his physique 11 years younger (he is 23 for the 34 of the castellonense) to come back and win 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4 ) and 6-4 in 3h17. He will face Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime-Aliassime in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Masters 1,000, who celebrated his 22nd birthday this Thursday with a victory against the British Cameron Norrie (6-3 and 6-4). Ruud hadn’t won a set from Bautista in their previous two duels, but he is now number seven in the world, after an upward progression that continues. The Spaniard was on a six win streak and had just been champion in Kitzbühel.

In the first set, the level of tennis was tremendous. The two exhibited a clean, hard and accurate hit. The precision with the service was one of the aspects that tipped the balance in favor of Bautista, who also won more times than Ruud in long exchanges, of more than four strokes. The Spaniard got many first serves and subtracted almost all of them from his rival. That constant pressure gave him the first break, although he immediately lost his turn and the game leveled until a tie break that Roberto played magnificently.

It was a setback for Ruud, who went to the locker room and was off the court for more than 10 minutes, for which he was reprimanded. The break gave him the energy to start the second heat with aggressiveness and intention. That’s why he went ahead with a break, but Bautista, who seemed fatigued by the heat, didn’t let him get further away and made the counterbreak, the opposite of the first set. And he came up before the proximity of victory. He didn’t want a third inning, so he recovered the security of his serves, as well as the power and placement of his shots. In this way, he reached the option of a second tie-break. However, the tables turned, Ruud took him.

Change of clothes and continue, with the threat of rain. Another player would have accused the blow, not Bautista, a rock. The first game was scored, but then the weather forced the game to be suspended. An hour later, it resumed and Ruud hit the key to break the famous consistency of Castellón. He broke for 3-2 and no longer let go of the lead, although Rober saved up to three match points.

Ramos wastes a match ball against Hurkacz

Albert Ramos, who until this year had not won any match at the Masters 1,000 in Canada (0-3), said goodbye to the tournament this Thursday in the round of 16 after harvesting, brilliantly and against very complicated rivals (Goffin and Schwartzman), his first two wins in the tournament. But the truth is that he was very close to obtaining the third and against a top-10 like Hubert Hurkacz(10º)who won the tiebreak of the third after saving a match point: 7-6 (6), 2-6 and 7-6 (3) in 2h25. Ramos escaped alive the Pole, who had already beaten him a few months ago in Monte Carlo. He had him on the ropes with a 30-40 in the last round, with the score at 5-4 in their favor. From there, Hurkacz used his powerful serve to reach the tie-break and not give the Spaniard a chance in that fate. Albert’s merit was useless in the first set, when after putting him on track with a break, He did not sink when his rival leveled the duel and was able to win the tie-break against a true slugger. Hurkacz will face Nick Kyrgios in the quarterfinals, who is still in the sweet spot after beating fellow Australian Alex de Miñaur (6-2, 6-3). The climb of the controversial tennis player in the ranking (he is virtually 27th) will allow him to be seeded again in a Grand Slam, the US Open.

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