Casper Ruud scores comeback win over Sebastian Ofner in Geneva

Casper Ruud pulled off an impressive comeback at the Gonet Geneva Open on Wednesday, rallying from a set down to defeat Sebastian Ofner, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

The former world No. 2 had lost his last two matches after a strong start to the clay-court swing, enduring early exits at both the Mutua Madrid Open and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Though Ofner won his first set against a Top 10 player in 22 attempts, Ruud restored order in time to book a quarterfinal with No. 5 seed Sebastian Baez after one hour and 47 minutes on Center Court.

Ruud emerged as an early contender to win his first major title at this year’s Roland Garros after defeating Novak Djokovic en route to the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final. Finishing runner-up there to Stefanos Tsitsipas, the Norwegian avenged the defeat a week later to win his first ATP 500 title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, the biggest title of his career.

A fourth-round defeat to Félix Auger-Aliassime at the Caja Magica was a minor blemish on a near-perfect clay resume, but his opening-round defeat to good friend Miomir Kecmanovic was more alarming when Ruud revealed he suffered a “lock” in his lower back during the three-set defeat.

Unconcerned with the severity of the injury, Ruud was nonetheless in search of momentum with only one week before Roland Garros, and he returned to the Tennis Club de Genève with every confidence he would find it as he got off to an early lead on Ofner.

Taking on the No. 2 seed, Ofner stood at 0-21 in sets played against Top 10 opposition heading into his match with Ruud, but the Austrian qualifier turned the tables on Ruud long enough to reel off six of the next eight games and claim the opening set out from under the two-time Geneva Open champion.

Ruud settled from there, nabbing a stronger lead in the second and breaking Ofner three more times to secure the victory in just under two hours.

Awaiting him in the last eight will be Baez, who lost just three games to Spaniard Roberto Carballés Baena on Tuesday. Though the Argentine is a strong clay-courter, Ruud boasts a 2-0 head-to-head advantage, with both meetings coming last year on clay.