TennisSection previews the 2021 Andalucia Open as Casper Ruud (3) meets Carlos Alcaraz in the Quarter-Finals on Friday April 9th, 2021.
Third seeded Casper Ruud of Norway faces unseeded Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in the Quarter-Finals of the 2021 Andalucia Open. This is a match between two exciting young players on the ATP Tour, both of whom have extremely bright futures. Will it be the more experienced Norwegian getting the win? Or can the young Spanish star Alcaraz cause yet another upset in his short career and advance to the Semi-Finals here in Marbella?
Casper Ruud has had a tough season so far in 2021 where he has suffered greatly with injuries. After a promising start to the year where he reached the Fourth Round at the Australian Open he has struggled to replicate that. Ruud will be hoping to kick start his season with a strong performance during the clay court swing, a surface that he has been very successful on so far in his ATP career. The winner of the Buenos Aires title 2020 on clay, Ruud has been impressive so far here at the 2021 Andalucia Open, defeating the dangerous Gianluca Mager in straight sets. He was in total control during that match, breaking serve with ease and dominating from the baseline. The Norwegian knows he will have to be better against Carlos Alcaraz, a fast rising star who is in great form.
Carlos Alcaraz is only 17 years of age but is one of the brightest young talents on the ATP Tour. Currently only ranked #133, he has had some big wins during his short career and is seemingly improving by the day. He will be very eager to put in a strong performance at home in Spain, and has looked very impressive so far. The youngster defeated Feliciano Lopez in three sets in the Round of 16, showing tremendous poise to get back into the match when he was down. If Ruud isn’t at his absolute best which he hasn’t been all year, this is a potential upset waiting to happen. Playing in front of a home crowd will give him even more confidence than he already has, and this is shaping up to be a very keen contest here at the 2021 Andalucia Open.
The two players have never faced each other on the ATP Tour, and their head to head record stands at 0-0. While Casper Ruud is ranked over 100 spots higher than his opponent in the rankings, he has been in poor form this year and has not played much clay court tennis this season, while Carlos Alcaraz has. The smart play is to back Ruud, but I am going with the future superstar to get the upset here. I have been very impressed with his game over the past year and he is seemingly going from strength to strength with every match he plays. The Norwegian is still shaking some rust off and I think that the in-form youngster has a huge opportunity to take advantage here. It will certainly be a very close and interesting match, but I am picking Carlos Alcaraz to score the major upset and advance to his first career ATP Semi-Final here at the 2021 Andalucia Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Carlos Alcaraz to win.
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