Francisco Cerundolo defeated Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 to give the World Team its opening point at the 2024 Laver Cup in Berlin. The Argentine’s Cerundolo weathered an early storm caused by an impressive start from Norway’s Ruud to turn the match in his favour and give the visiting team the lead in the three-day team tennis match.
Despite dominating the opening stages, Ruud started to lose steam midway through the first set, losing his serve three times and only being broken for the first time when the Argentine, ranked 31st in the world, served for the match at 5-2. But despite a somewhat shaky serve that included five double faults, Cerundolo held on to win the 98-minute match on the Laver Cup’s trademark black hard court.
The first six games were likely to see Ruud emerge as the winner. He had no issues in his service games, hitting his serve hard and scoring a number of clean winners with his powerful forehand, but Cerundolo struggled with his own serve and looked especially precarious on his second serve. The Argentine faced three break points in the fourth game and needed three powerful first serves to stave off the danger.
But the tide turned in a two-minute span in the seventh game. Leading 30-0, Ruud missed the fourth point with an inaccurate backhand and gave up serve. From then on, his confidence seemed to fade. His ferociously accurate groundstrokes began to falter and he got tangled on several occasions while searching for his forehand.
Cerundolo, meanwhile, had regained the confidence from the baseline that had initially eluded him. Still, his second serves looked vulnerable, but Ruud couldn’t capitalize, and the way Cerundolo finished the set was emblematic of Ruud’s collapse in confidence: The Norwegian smashed a forehand wide off a 75 mph second serve.
“That’s how tennis is!” said a smiling Cerundolo after the match. “You have to be aware of how the match is developing because it can have momentum and change suddenly. The first seven games were really tough with long rallies, but after I broke his play I started to play better. Maybe he got a bit frustrated, wanted to play more aggressively or change his plan. It’s a one-on-one battle and sometimes you have to take out your opponent’s frustration.”
Ruud’s leap from his chair to start the second set quickly faded after he was broken at 15, with Cerundolo using more drop shots as his confidence grew. He broke for the third time in the match to lead 5-2 before Ruud approached the net and conceded his only break. Serving at 5-4, however, Cerundolo made no mistake, winning the match with a drop shot that landed just short of the Norwegian as he struggled against the net.
“It was tough,” Ruud said. “I felt like I had a chance to take an early lead. I was a little unlucky, but that happens in tennis. I served well at the beginning, but then he caught my serve and made some good returns. I made some bad unforced errors in the (seventh) game. I didn’t lose confidence, but he was playing well and it was hard to find holes in his play.”
“His second serve is difficult because I feel like it’s a ball that I can hit a winner with, but after hitting it once or twice and going out, I get indecisive and overthink the situation a bit. Maybe this court is not very suitable for my heavy topspin, but that’s my problem. I need to grow and get better, but today I was torn between stepping back or being more aggressive and it was too late to beat him.”
With the win, Cerundolo became the first South American player to win multiple matches for Team World in the Laver Cup.
All matches on the first day will be worth one point, on the second day two points and on Sunday three points each.
