French Open: Casper Ruud powers past qualifier Ymer into second round

Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – May 30, 2023 Norway’s Casper Ruud in action during his first round match against Sweden’s Elias Ymer REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

PARIS— Fourth seed Casper Ruud coasted into the French Open second round with a 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory over Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer on Tuesday to kick off his bid for a second straight final in Paris.

Ymer was no match for the baseline power of the Norwegian world number four, who lost in the 2022 final to Rafael Nadal, an absentee this year.

“Last year was one of the best tournaments of my life,” Ruud said. “You want to defend what you did last year.”

“Last year was incredible for me and I will try to do it again wherever I play.”

He got his first break at 3-3 when Ymer sailed a forehand wide.

The Norwegian, whose season start was far from successful before winning the title on clay in Estoril in April and reaching the last four in Rome two weeks ago, broke his opponent again at the start of the second set.

Pummelling Ymer with thundering baseline winners, Ruud was in no mood to slow down, and even after the Swedish journeyman clawed his way back with a break of his own he responded with another break to bag the set.

Ymer, whose brother Mikael was eliminated in the first round as well, had no answer to Ruud’s power game, littering the court with errors when engaged in longer rallies, one of which came on the second match point, handing victory to Ruud with a backhand miss.

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