Montreal Masters 2022: Casper Ruud vs. Roberto Bautista Agut Tennis Pick and Prediction

TennisSection previews the 2022 Montreal Masters as Casper Ruud takes on Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round on Thursday, August 11th, 2022.

Will Capser Ruud continue his excellent record on American soil this year? The Norwegian is 9-3 on hard courts this year but faces a stern test of his title credentials when he takes on ATP’s workhorse in Roberto Bautista Agut. Who will reach the quarterfinals of the Montreal Masters?

There are a handful of recent title winners and in-form players at the Montreal Masters. And one of them is Casper Ruud. The world No. 7 picked up his ninth career title on the clay courts of Gstaad towards the end of July. And Ruud made a smooth transition to the hard courts in his opening match at the National Bank Open, as he swatted aside Alex Molcan in straight sets. Ruud’s pinpoint first serve and his heavy ground strokes caused Molcan plenty of problems. The Slovak, a clay-courter himself, was slow to react and had little time to adjust.

Roberto Bautista Agut, meanwhile, made it six wins on the trot. The Spaniard, a winner in Kitzbuhel last month, produced a near-perfect performance to get the better of Jenson Brooksby 7-5 6-1. A tight first set came down to a few clutch points with Bautista Agut converting a late break point to win it. Brooksbylost all the momentum he had built until that stage. The American was hardly at his best in the second set, as he romped to take the match.

Robeto Bautista Agut has a winning record over Casper Ruud. He has beaten the Norwegian in both of their previous two meetings including their Group Stage rubber at the ATP Cup this year. Ruud has since made a vast improvement on hard courts both in game-plan and execution of shots. He has been rewarded on US soil this year with a finals appearance at the Miami Masters earlier during the season. This match could go either as Bautista Agut is also a perennial threat on this surface, but picking Ruud to advance just.