"I don't expect him to surrender at all": Casper Ruud sets Roland Garros rematch with Novak Djokovic

Seventh seed Casper Ruud has made a third consecutive trip to the Roland Garros quarterfinals, where world No. 1 Novak Djokovic awaits in a rematch of last year’s final.

Ruud fended off 12th-seeded Taylor Fritz, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, Monday evening—saving a set point in the opening tie-break along the way.

“If I had lost that and the second, it would look really bad, but after the second set it was still 1-all. He broke me early, and then from there, I just told myself, time to step up, going to do just my best to just get into the zone and stay there,” the two-time runner-up told press.

The Norwegian is now 39-9 on the season and will go into Wednesday’s clash having won his most recent meeting with Djokovic in April’s Monte Carlo semifinals. The 24-time major winner survived from two sets to one down for the second round running, battling past Francisco Cerundolo.

While Djokovic’s last two wins have taken a toll on his body, which includes a right knee issue, Ruud will be treating his latest encounter with Djokovic like every other.

“I don't expect him to surrender at all. I have to expect him to be fresh, ready and that it's going to be a tough match,” he said.

“Last year in the final, I got an early break in the first set, I still remember. I lost it on the tiebreak. It was a long, tough, physical set. I'm going to try to learn from that.”

Like Djokovic, Ruud has dropped four sets en route to the final eight. He was pushed to five sets by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round and came through in four against 28th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

“I think, honestly, I ended up in a pretty tough section of the draw and a lot of good players on the way here that I have been able to overcome,” said Ruud.

“Sometimes you just have to think, okay, I won't play perfect but I'm going to be a tough player to beat in best-of-five sets on clay. That's the kind of mentality that has been working for me.”