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Dutch tennis player Botic van de Zandschulp stunned No. 2 seed Casper Ruud to come just two wins away from winning his maiden ATP title. Van de Zandschulp, who is enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 40 in the world, overcame world No.
7 Ruud in straight sets 7-5 6-1 to progress into the Munich semifinal. Van de Zandschulp claimed the first break of the match in the 11th game, before serving out for the first set in the following game. Ruud served out the first game of the second set but van de Zandschulp absolutely dominated the rest of the match as he broke Ruud three times and won six games in a row to complete a straight-set win.
"Maybe the score is easier than it really was," van de Zandschulp said in his on-court interview, per the ATP Tour website. "The first set [was] really tight, I think. A great battle in the first one. I had some opportunities to break him in the beginning.
Didn't take him. Gladly [at] 5-all I made the break and held the serve at 6-5. "[The] second set was a little bit easier, but I think I played really well today."
Van de Zandschulp ready for Miomir Kecmanovic
Van de Zandschulp plays Kecmanovic next, who defeated him in Indian Wells last month.
"It was not clay, it was a pretty close score," van de Zandschulp said. "Looking forward to the match. I think he's had a great season so far and he's a great player. It's going to be a good match." Elsewhere, defending champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas came just two wins away from defending his Estoril crown after beating Fernando Verdasco 6-2 6-2.
"I think it's always difficult to play against a player that you know a lot. We've played a lot of times and it was a difficult match," Ramos-Vinolas said in his on-court interview. "I think I played very serious from the beginning until the end and I'm really happy because I beat a really good opponent." Ramos-Vinolas plays Sebastian Baez in the Estoril semifinal.