Does return player Ruud unleash Berrettini’s serve?

The ranks are thinning in the 142nd men’s singles of the US Open, in which only eight players now remain. With defending champion Daniil Medvedev also out, both Matteo Berrettini and Casper Ruud have legitimate hopes of reaching the grand final in New York City. Both fought their way through to the quarter-finals with strong performances.

Casper Ruud is even the first Norwegian ever to make it to the round of the best eight players in the men’s singles at Flushing Meadows. The 23-year-old would now love to go one step further. He is seen as a razor-thin favourite in an evenly matched pairing. In the run-up to the match between Matteo Berrettini and Casper Ruud, the odds are swinging minimally in his direction.

The fact that it could be close is also shown by the even head-to-head comparison between the two athletes, who just clashed in the final of the ATP Gstaad in July. However, it is striking that in 14 sets played between the two players, there were only two tiebreaks.

Accordingly, it is interesting to bet on Matteo Berrettini against Casper Ruud that this quarter-final will be decided without tiebreaks.

Matteo Berrettini – Statistics & current form

Current ranking in the world rankings: 14
Position in the seedings: 13

The 26-year-old Italian Matteo Berrettini has only been a regular at ATP Tour tournaments since 2018, but has made big leaps in the rankings since then.

The man from Rome has always finished the last three years in the top 10 of the ATP world rankings, although he is currently only ranked 14th. Nevertheless, he sold himself dearly in 2022 and was able to celebrate two tournament victories in Stuttgart and London before he had to cancel the Wimbledon Championships at short notice due to an infection.

In the top eight for the fifth time in a row

Overall, Berrettini’s record for the year stands at 25 wins from 34 singles matches following his strong performances at the 2022 US Open. The Roman not only beat Andy Murray 3:1 on his way to the quarter-finals, but also managed to send Alejandro Davidovich Fokina home 3:2 in a real thriller.

The consistency of the Italian’s play is also evident from the fact that he has now reached at least the last eight in his fifth consecutive Grand Slam tournament.

Thanks to strong service with triumph in round of 16

Berrettini benefited significantly from his strong service game. In the hard-fought round of 16 match against Davidovich Fokina, he hit 18 aces and scored 84% of the time with his first serve.

In addition, he had nerves of steel, successfully defending nine of the 13 break points against him. If he brings this performance data onto the court again, he will be a hot candidate for the semifinals, although in the case of Matteo Berrettini against Casper Ruud, it must also be taken into account that he is down 2:3 in the direct comparison against his opponent today…

Casper Ruud – Statistics & current form

Current position in the world ranking: 7
Position in the seedings: 5

The 23-year-old Norwegian Casper Ruud is also in captivating form in 2022. The first Norwegian ever to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s singles at the US Open, he has already won three singles titles this year in the run-up to the tennis tournament in New York City.

Add to that the Oslo native’s spectacular run at the French Open, when Ruud reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career, but missed out on the title against superstar Nadal.

The Return King of Flushing Meadows

It’s a bit of a surprise that the Norwegian, who is generally regarded as a clay court specialist, is also so strong on the hard court at Flushing Meadows. On his way to the quarter-finals, Ruud was by no means carried by a particularly impressive service game, but rather by his impressive return qualities.

In the round of 16 against Corentin Moutet alone, the Oslo player scored in no less than 42% of all cases when the first serve of his French opponent arrived. A rate that is rarely achieved on the fast hard court.

42 of 57 singles won in 2022

Accordingly, Ruud, who won three singles titles in 2022 and is already on 42 wins from 57 singles played, also goes into his first ever US Open quarter-final as favourite.

The 23-year-old could also settle a score. Back in 2020, he met Matteo Berrettini here in New York City and had to concede a remarkably clear 0:3 defeat to the Italian…

Matteo Berrettini – Casper Ruud Direct comparison / H2H record

Head to head: 2:3

Five times both athletes have faced each other in a single match so far and with three wins Casper Ruud leads the direct comparison by a narrow margin. The Norwegian just managed another 2-1 victory over Berrettini in the final of the ATP Gstaad in July, with which he secured his third singles title of the current season.

Matteo Berrettini – Casper Ruud Tip

With Matteo Berrettini against Casper Ruud, the prediction has to take the “head to head” comparison into account. However, it should be noted that four of the five duels between the two athletes are on clay courts, which plays better into the hands of the Norwegian clay court expert. The only hard-court match, however, which also took place at the US Open two years ago, was also the clearest duel to date, which Berrettini won outright 3-0.

Even then, the duel between the two players in Flushing Meadows was decided without a tiebreak. In fact, only two of the 14 sets played between Berrettini and Ruud went into extra time.

It is therefore a good bet that this quarter-final will also be played without a tie-break.