SAN DIEGO OPEN ATP TENNIS • Ruud Beats Norrie • Plus Draws

RUUD EASES PAST NORRIE TO WIN  SAN DIEGO OPEN By: Thomas Cluck  History was on the line Sunday and Casper Ruud stepped up with a convincing title-winning performance. The second-seeded Norwegian capped off a brilliant week at Barnes Tennis Center and continued his great play this year on the ATP Tour, dominating Cameron Norrie of Great Britain 6-0, 6-2 for his fifth title in 2021 and first career tour-level trophy on a hard court.   In the pair’s first ever meeting, Ruud, who added the Laver Cup to his burgeoning trophy case last week in Boston, was in complete control of the match the entire way against his left-handed opponent, finishing the job in just 61 minutes on Sunday afternoon.   “Today was not the easiest match, but it was quickest. I am very happy to win the final this way. I played excellent from the first to last point,” Ruud said. Ruud dropped only one set all week, coming in a thrilling semifinal yesterday against former ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov, and looked completely at home and in his element against Norrie. The young Norwegian star dominated on both serve and return, winning 74% of his first-serve points and never facing a break point while also breaking Norrie’s serve five times out of the six chances he created.   “All the big points went my way today. I was playing well with my forehand and hitting my spots. Cameron is such a good player. I have to play at the top of my game and I did,” Ruud added.   It wasn’t only Ruud who’s enjoyed a career-best 2021. While Norrie didn’t win the title today, the young former NCAA Tennis star at TCU added another runner-up trophy to his case in 2021, his fourth on the year, in addition to his first and only career ATP Tour title this summer on a hard court in Los Cabos.   “I played great yesterday. I really didn’t execute today. I came out a little flat today and I didn’t play my best,” Norrie said. “It’s a disappointing result. All credit to Casper, he really deserved it today.”   The unseeded Brit surely enjoyed a memorable week here as well, thrilling fans with his back-to-back-to-back victories over seeded players with wins over his compatriot and British number one Dan Evans, Canadian star Denis Shapovalov, and top seed and world number five Andrey Rublev, paving his way to history as one of the San Diego Open’s first ever finalists.

Earlier in the day on Barnes Stadium, the doubles title was won by the top-seeded team of Joe Salisbury and Neil Skupski, capping off a great week for Great Britain, holding off third seeds John Peers of Australia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 7-6, 3-6, 10-5 for the trophy, joining Ruud in history as the first ever San Diego Open champions.

2021 SAN DIEGO OPEN ATP 250 SUNDAY’S RESULTS – OCTOBER 03, 2021 Men’s Singles Final [2] C. Ruud (NOR) d C. Norrie (GBR) 60 62 Men’s Doubles Final [1] J. Salisbury (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) d [3] J. Peers (AUS) / F. Polasek (SVK) 76(2) 36 10-5