Casper Ruud has had a great start to the clay court season. After reaching the semifinals of the Estoril Open 2024, Ruud redeemed himself by making a pleasantly surprising deep run at the Monte Carlo Masters 2024. The 25-year-old bagged his first career win against a top 3 ranked player, i.e. Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, but only fell short against Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-6, 4-6 in the finals at Monaco.
With the Norwegian improving consistently, he will begin as one of the favorites to lift the Barcelona Open 2024 title.
With the virtue of Casper Ruud becoming the new World No.6 recently, he is the No.3 seed at the Barcelona Open 2024. Placed in the bottom half of the draw, Ruud has a bye in the first round. His campaign will begin on Tuesday afternoon when he plays the winner of the Alexandre Muller vs Albert Ramos-Vinolas tie.
It is safe to assume that Ruud will win the 2nd round match. Following that, the former World No.2 will more than likely face Australia’s Jordan Thompson. If Ruud manages to get his redemption for the Los Cabos Open 2024 loss in the finals against the Australian, he could proceed and possibly play Argentina’s Sebastian Baez in the quarterfinals.
The French Open 2023 runner-up could then face either of the two Russians – Karen Khachanov or Andrey Rublev – in his semi-final clash. However, considering that Rublev has not won a match since March 11, the possibility of a Ruud-Khachanov semi-final is more likely.
A victory will result in Casper’s 2nd finals in less than a week, where he could be playing either Stefanos Tsitsipas or Alex de Minaur. However, it is worth noting that if Rafael Nadal remains healthy, the 22-time Grand Slam champion can also be a dark horse to reach the finals from the top half of the draw.
This is what Casper Ruud’s path to the finals looks like:
First Round – Bye
Second Round – Alexandre Muller
Third Round – Jordan Thompson
Quarter-Final – Sebastian Baez
Semi-Final – Karen Khachanov
Final – Stefanos Tsitsipas / Alex de Minaur
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