Casper Ruud saves two match points to topple Stefanos Tsitsipas, who sums up Madrid agony with meme

Defending Mutua Madrid Open champion Casper Ruud couldn’t break Stefanos Tsitsipas, until he had one foot out the exit door in their fourth-round contest.

In a clash full of twists and turns Tuesday, Ruud saved a pair of match points before edging out the Greek for a 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3) victory.

It was a comeback that seemed out of reach, with Ruud missing his first 11 break points. The most eye-catching came with Tsitsipas serving at 1-2, 30-40, when Ruud second guessed his most reliable shot.

“Had somewhat of an easy sitter forehand. The plan was to go big cross and then I changed my mind just a split of a second before,” he recalled during his post-match interview with ATP Media. “I hesitated and went down the line, hit it on top of the net and not convinced at all. Those things you tend to remember unfortunately a bit too long.

“That was a key point for him and he broke me in the next game. Two tough games for me to swallow.”

Down 3-5 and facing a pair of match points on serve, Ruud saved the first with a confident forehand winner. Tsitsipas squandered the second with a pushed backhand return that sailed well long.

The former world No. 3 would not see another match point, getting to deuce at 5-4 after erasing the 11th break point against his serve. But an unsuccessful serve-and-volley ploy brought up ad out, where Tsitsipas buckled under the pressure in catching his forehand late.

“Obviously you don’t hope for mistakes out of your opponent’s racquet, you want to see good tennis, But when you’re break points to stay in the match, you kind of hope that he will do something, unforced error. Luckily he did,” commented Ruud.

“At 5-5, I said to myself, ‘This is why we train hard. This is why we love this sport, for these moments.’”

The Norwegian pulled off one final twist in the ensuing tie-break, reeling off six successive points after falling behind a mini break. When Tsitsipas netted his one-handed backhand to end it, Ruud bent over and let out a resounding roar.

“The return at 3-all in the tie-break is kind of what wins the match for me,” he would credit.

Tsitsipas’ thoughts on the outcome were best summed up with a “we’re so back” versus “it’s so over” meme he posted on X afterwards.

For Ruud, he lives another day as he attempts to avoid falling out of the Top 20 for the first time since May 2021. The 27-year-old, now on a nine-match win streak at the venue, awaits the winner of Francisco Cerundolo and Alexander Blockx.