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World No. 6 Casper Ruud admitted he should not have put himself in a position to be close to losing the second set of his Wimbledon but he was glad that he was able to finally clinch his first win at The Championships. On Monday, Ruud defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6 (1) 7-6 (9) 6-2 in the Wimbledon first round.
After recovering twice from a break down in the second set, Ramos-Vinolas had a 6-2 lead in the second set tie-break. Somehow, Ruud saved a total of five set points and won the second set to open a two-set lead, before dominating the third set to complete a straight-set win.
"I sort of should have won the second set before, because I was serving for it twice, and then got broken both times," Ruud said after the match, per the ATP websit. "It happens fast on grass. Suddenly you're down 0/30, and then a couple of points here and there, it can happen.
Then everything turned in his favour, then again it turned back in my favour. Being down 6/2, coming back and winning 11/9, I think with some crazy rallies in there. It's obviously a game of small margins. In that tie-break they were on my side luckily, so I think that also helped me to win the match."
Ruud felt well on the Wimbledon grass
After picking up back-to-back first round exits at Wimbledon in 2019 and 2021, Ruud finally has his first win at The All England Club and he faces Ugo Humbert next.
Humbert is a player who can play well on grass and it won't be an easy test for Ruud. "I was feeling surprisingly [good], to be honest," said Ruud. "I haven't played much on grass this year, because I went for some holidays after Queen's and before coming to Wimbledon.
I had four days to get ready, so I was a little interested to see how I was going to play. But I felt good. I mean, I'm here at Wimbledon. There is something very special with these courts. Any time you get to play on a match court it's a great feeling. I was playing well and [I am] very happy with the level I was able to show today."