Will Thor strike with his hammer at Roland Garros? Two favoured Scandinavians start their battle in Paris

Two Scandinavians are also among the biggest favourites at Roland Garros. Both Casper Ruud of Norway and Holger Rune of Denmark are in the top tiers of the ATP rankings. Both of them started their action at the second Grand Slam of the season on Tuesday. How did they do?

Casper Ruud

Nora Casper Ruud should certainly not be underestimated. He reached the final in France last year and even became world number two at the end of 2022. He’s currently two positions worse off and defending last year’s result in Paris would greatly benefit his ambitions to stay in the upper echelons of the ATP rankings.

The Norwegian native’s results so far this year are a minor blemish. In recent months, he has shone in reaching the semi-finals in Rome. There he succumbed to the second mentioned representative of the Viking country, Rune. Otherwise, Ruud’s performances have been less convincing. His match record in other clay events is 8:4.

But he put in a solid performance at the 2023 French Open. He didn’t lose a set against Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer, although he made quite a few unforced errors and would certainly have liked a higher first serve success rate. So the Norwegian has room for improvement.

Ruud’s next opponent will be Italian Zeppieri, who had a five-set battle against Kazakh Bublik in the first round. The twenty-one year old Italian set a new high by advancing to the second round of the French Open.

He was very active in Tuesday’s match, making nearly 50 attacks at the net, and his match against Ruud on Thursday will be an interesting comparison of two different styles. It is clear that the Norwegian will enter the match as the favourite.

Holger Rune

Denmark’s Holger Rune has entered the clay grand slams as a highly watched player. His ambitions are among the biggest. He has already broken through to the sixth place in the ATP rankings. He has never been that high. And he’s definitely looking even higher.

In the first round of the Paris Grand Slam, he met the American Eubanks. He’s anything but a clay specialist. The 27-year-old practically avoids the slow surface and the first set did not suggest any problem for the favourite. Rune won it 6:4, but by then he was on the verge of the most challenging 90 minutes of the duel.

The Gentofte native lost his very first serve in the second set and his two-meter opponent was suddenly unbeatable on his serve. It wasn’t until the ninth game that Rune broke back. But he didn’t take advantage of them and the set was tied.

The important third set came down to a tiebreak, and it was only in the tiebreak that the Dane proved to be the better player, dominating the shortened game 7:2 and from then on he was in control of the match. After sets 6::4, 3::6, 7::6, 6::2 Holger Rune stepped towards his highest goals.

Will the two northerners cross paths?

Both representatives of the Viking states are in the same quarter of the spider. They are the highest seeded players here and if they prove their qualities, they will play each other in the quarter-finals. There are still three rounds to go before this potential battle, and the names of the Americans Fritz and Paul and the Czech Lehecka are close to the Nordic players. It will be very interesting to see how the events in this part of the spider will develop.

Source:: Roland Garros