TennisSection previews the 2021 Swedish Open as Casper Ruud (1) meets Henri Laaksonen in the Quarter-Finals on Friday July 16th, 2021.
Casper Ruud is seemingly on a collision course with second seeded Cristian Garin here at the 2021 Swedish Open. The two clay-court heavyweights have been plowing through the draw here in Bastad, and only a miracle will likely prevent them meeting in the Final. Casper Ruud has been in fantastic form and not many will give his Quarter-Final opponent Henri Laaksonen much of a chance here. Can the Swiss cause a shocking upset and advance to his first Semi-Final of the year?
Casper Ruud is currently ranked #16 on the ATP Tour and is the top seed here at the 2021 Swedish Open. The Norwegian #1 has established himself as one of the finest clay court players in the world with some outstanding performances this year, most notably claiming the title in Geneva, and back to back Masters-1000 Semi-Finals in Madrid and Monte-Carlo. He has carried that form into this event here in Bastad, and after receiving a bye in the First Round, he demolished promising youngster Holger Rune 6-0, 6-2 in the Round of 16, displaying some aggressive baseline tennis that Rune could not keep up with. He enters this match against Henri Laaksonen as the big favorite, and it will take a miracle to stop him here.
Henri Laaksonen is unseeded here at the 2021 Swedish Open, and is ranked #134 on the ATP Tour. The Swiss player has had a very inconsistent season, so he will be delighted to have found some form and success here in Bastad. After coming through the Qualifying Rounds by the skin of his teeth, he upset sixth seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the First Round and followed it up with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Elias Ymer. He has a big serve and powerful groundstrokes, although those will be somewhat nullified on the clay. He enters this match against Casper Ruud as the massive underdog, and it will truly take the best performance of his life to get anything out of it here.
This will be the first meeting between the two players on the ATP Tour, and I expect it to be a quick and comfortable win for Casper Ruud. He is simply the much better player, and he has really come of age this season. He has elite groundstrokes and movement, and the one weakness in his game which is his serve has improved drastically. Henri Laaksonen is a solid player, but I don’t give him any chance here. Expect another dominant performance from the Norwegian star as he advances to the Semi-Finals here at the 2021 Swedish Open.
Free Tennis Pick and Prediction: Casper Ruud to win in straight sets
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