Will Ruud get his second win?

It would have been hard for Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz to open the 53rd edition of the ATP Finals on a better note. While the Norwegian celebrated a 2-0 victory over the favoured Félix Auger-Aliassime, debutant Taylor Fritz managed a remarkable 2-0 triumph over 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in the “night session” of the first day of play.

Now both athletes clash on Tuesday evening in prime time at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, where the first place in the semifinals could possibly be awarded. Very interesting in our eyes is the bet on Casper Ruud against Taylor Fritz, the Norwegian who was the more complete player in his opening win.

The American was also excellent in forcing the experienced Nadal into errors with a poisonous length in his forehand shots. Ruud, however, had a little more variance in his game and was thus more difficult to calculate. It is therefore interesting to predict that Casper Ruud against Taylor Fritz will again be won by the Norwegian, who reached the semifinals of the ATP Finals a year ago.

Casper Ruud – Statistics & current form

Current ranking in the World Ranking: 4
Position in the seedings: 3

The 23-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud has not yet won a Major title in his career. In the last twelve months, however, he has experienced a meteoric rise.

Since his debut at the ATP Finals a year ago, when the man from Oslo reached the semi-finals of the unofficial tennis world championship, Casper Ruud has reached three finals of major tournaments – including two Grand Slam tournaments, the French Open and the US Open – but has lost all of them.

Three tournament wins this year

However, the year 2022 can definitely be called a success, because the Norwegian has won all the other three finals he has reached. Although Buenos Aires, Geneva and Gstaad were all clay-court tournaments in the ATP Tour 250 category, three individual titles is still a very strong haul.

In conjunction with the two Grand Slam finals he has reached, the 23-year-old has a well-deserved fourth place in the ATP world rankings and clearly demonstrated this standing in his first group match against the favoured Félix Auger-Aliassime. With a varied game and a low error rate, Casper Ruud deservedly won 2:0.

49 of the 69 singles matches won in 2022

The Norwegian also stabilised himself overall, as Ruud had been a bit out of sorts since losing the US Open final. The Oslo native had lost four of his last six singles matches in the run-up to the ATP Finals, but his annual record still reads well with 49 wins from 69 singles matches.

It is therefore remarkable that in Casper Ruud’s match against Taylor Fritz, the odds are stacked against the 23-year-old, who is the natural underdog on the fast indoor hard court against a giant of serve like Taylor Fritz because of his height (1.83 metres), but who had the more stable and multi-faceted service game, especially in the opening match.

Taylor Fritz – Statistics & current form

Current world ranking: 9
Position in the seedings: 8

The 25-year-old American Taylor Fritz has been competing on the ATP Tour since 2014, where he made his breakthrough in 2016. Since then, the Californian has steadily improved and was able to record his first really big successes this year.

Among other things, he won the Indian Wells Masters in March this year and thus secured the first major title of his career, before the player from San Diego also reached the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the Wimbledon Championships.

Won eight of last ten singles matches

However, these notable successes were also countered by isolated lapses.

For example, at the US Open, where Taylor Fritz suffered a 1:3 defeat in his opening match against the glaring underdog Brandon Holt (ATP 303). However, this did not throw the American off track, who revved up again after the tournament in New York City.

The 25-year-old won eight of the last ten singles matches. That not only earned Fritz only the fourth singles title of his career (and third this year) at the Japan Open in Tokyo in October, but also gave him the celebrated opening victory over Rafael Nadal in Turin.

78% points won on second serve

Against the bull of Manacor, the Californian was merciless, especially on his own serve. With a coolness, as if he wanted to go as fast as possible so that he could still go to the beach, Fritz converted his service games in record-breaking time after time. He scored with his first serve 80% of the time.

If, on the other hand, the 25-year-old had to go over the second serve, he won a surreal 78% of his points. The result: Superstar Nadal did not have a single break point. If the American can carry this coolness over into the second game, Casper Ruud’s betting on another win against Taylor Fritz is favourable.

Casper Ruud – Taylor Fritz Direct comparison / H2H balance

Head to head: 0:0

Never before have both athletes faced each other in a match on the ATP Tour. Consequently, there is no “head to head” data available that could be used in the forecast for Casper Ruud against Taylor Fritz.

Casper Ruud – Taylor Fritz Tip

Much will depend on how both athletes get their serves on court. Both players did not allow a single break point against them in the opening match, had to go into a tie-break in the first set and kept their nerve there. However, while Fritz primarily went for power, Ruud had more to offer in terms of variance in height and pace. The Norwegian is also the better return player and we trust him to be there as soon as Fritz offers something.

Following this, it makes the most sense in our eyes to bet on another win for the Norwegian, who would then come very close to reaching the semi-finals for the second time in a row.