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World no. 4 Casper Ruud can not end his misery run! Casper experienced an early exit in Rome, falling to the 22-year-old Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 33 minutes. Arnaldi is playing his second Masters 1000 event, qualifying for the main draw and delivering two wins to advance into the third round and find himself in the top-100!
The Italian dominated with his forehand and fired 35 winners and 13 unforced errors. The Norwegian failed to follow those numbers, staying on 14 direct points and 19 mistakes to hit the exit door and experience another blow.
The young gun saved six out of seven break points and kept the pressure on the other side. Ruud was far from that pace, struggling on the first and second serve and getting broken three times to propel the rival through. They were neck and neck in the shortest range up to four stokes, and Arnaldi built the advantage in the more extended ones to emerge at the top in style and move into the third round.
Matteo Arnaldi ousted Casper Ruud in straight sets in Madrid.
Arnaldi grabbed the encounter's opening game with a service winner and netted a forehand in game three to experience a break point. The young gun saved it with a volley winner at the net and held for 2-1.
Ruud wasted three game points in the fourth game and hit a forced error to drop serve and fall 3-1 behind. Casper pushed strong on the return in the fifth game and seized his fourth break chance to pull the break back and reduce the deficit.
Arnaldi struggled in those moments and faced another break point at 3-3. He saved it with a winner at the net and landed a perfect drop shot winner to bring the game home and gain a boost. Ruud squandered game points in the eighth game and struggled to bring it home after.
Matteo clinched the fourth break point and opened a 5-3 gap, serving for the set in the next one. The young gun held at love with a service winner for 6-3 in 50 minutes. Arnaldi painted a backhand down the line winner at the start of the second set for a break at love and a massive boost.
The Italian landed a volley winner at the net in game two for another perfect hold, taking 14 straight points and sailing toward the finish line! Ruud fell 40-0 behind in the third game, allowing his rival to rattle off 17 consecutive points before denying three break points and reducing the deficit to 2-1.
They barely lost a point behind the serve in the next four games, with Casper staying within one break deficit. Arnaldi saved a break point in game eight with a volley winner at the net and fired an ace for 5-3. Matteo served for the victory at 5-4 and hit a smash winner to emerge at the top in style and earn a career-best win.