At Roland Garros Sinner is back in the second round: Sonego challenges Ruud

As always, Lorenzo Sonego gave his soul, but it wasn’t enough. The 27 year old from Turin, n.35 del ranking e 32 del seeding, sold 62 67 (3) 16 64 63, after a battle of almost three and a half hours, al Norwegian Casper Ruud, n.8 of the ranking and seeding, landed for the first time in the second round in five participations.

“If I do my best I can also win: I have to serve well and put my feet on the pitch, and I have to be even more aggressive”, the blue had said on the eve. And as long as the humidity of the Parisian evening did not weigh down the pitch and the balls, the tactic also worked. Then, under changed conditions, the Scandinavian’s great defensive capacity prevailed.

The 23-year-old from Oslo had won all three previous matches with the Piedmontese, but only one of which was played on the “red”, in the second round of the Masters 1000 in Rome in 2020. Great balance at the start, broken by an incredible response played by Ruud, who hit the ball practically from the front row, hitting the break in the fourth game (4-2). With momentum the Norwegian with the fourth game in a row closed the first set 6-2.

Sonego’s reaction came in the middle of the second set when, in the fifth game, with a backhand passer along the line he obtained the first break point of the match: the Piedmontese’s cross right, however, ended up by a whisker and the Norwegian he was saved. Replay in the seventh game: with a backhand volley “Sonny” got another ball-break and then with the best point of the match, closed by a forehand in the corner, he snatched the serve from Ruud (4-3 ). The blue confirmed the advantage (5-3) but in the tenth game, “inaugurated” by a double fault, Casper hit the counter-break to zero (5-5) and then overtaking (6-5). Lorenzo took refuge in the tie-break and here, from 3 all he was the one who had more courage, winning the last four points and signing the 7-3 with a winning service.

–