Down 3-5 and facing a pair of match points on serve, Ruud saved the first with a confident forehand winner. Tsitsipas squandered the second with a pushed backhand return that sailed well long.
The former world No. 3 would not see another match point, getting to deuce at 5-4 after erasing the 11th break point against his serve. But an unsuccessful serve-and-volley ploy brought up ad out, where Tsitsipas buckled under the pressure in catching his forehand late.
“Obviously you don’t hope for mistakes out of your opponent’s racquet, you want to see good tennis, But when you’re break points to stay in the match, you kind of hope that he will do something, unforced error. Luckily he did,” commented Ruud.
“At 5-5, I said to myself, ‘This is why we train hard. This is why we love this sport, for these moments.’”
