Stat of the Day: Casper Ruud records milestone 100th clay-court win of career in Estoril

World No. 5 Casper Ruud made a winning return to clay in Estoril on Wednesday, rallying from a set down to defeat Portugal’s Joao Sousa, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, in his opening match at the ATP 250 event.

“I’m just happy to get the win today,” Ruud said in his on-court interview. “It was not looking very good there after the first set, but I managed to step up and play better and better throughout the match, so that’s a good sign going into the next match.”

Sousa would have been a tricky opening opponent for anyone—he’s a former No. 28, the highest-ranked Portuguese player in ATP rankings history, and he’s won four ATP titles. He also has five career wins over Top 10 players, including three against Top 5 players.

And he took it to the No. 5-ranked Ruud early on, getting the first break of the match in the fifth game and holding his serve from there until he had the 38-minute opening set in his pocket.

Ruud buckled down from there, though, opening up a 3-0 lead en route to winning the second set, then a 5-0 lead in the third set. Sousa made one last stand, holding and breaking to close the gap in the decider to 5-2, but Ruud broke one last time to seal the win.

“Joao is such a nice guy,” Ruud said. “Sort of mixed feelings winning against him here in Estoril. I know that he’s a home favorite, a home crowd favorite. He’s a great example of a good fighter. One who has come from a country with not too much tennis history, and he has really had an influence on this tournament and on the fans.

“He’s a great guy and always a tough match against him.”

It was also a milestone win for Ruud: his 100th clay-court win.

Ruud is the 22nd active men’s player to record 100 career clay-court wins, and the 21st if you only count active men’s singles players (Marcel Granollers is only active in doubles right now).

He’s just the sixth man born in 1990 or later to reach that milestone, and only the second born in 1995 or later, after Alexander Zverev:

ACTIVE MEN WITH 100+ CAREER WINS ON CLAY (tour-level)
474: Rafael Nadal
257: Novak Djokovic
236: Fernando Verdasco
230: Fabio Fognini
190: Albert Ramos-Vinolas
186: Stan Wawrinka
170: Pablo Cuevas
161: Richard Gasquet
155: Dominic Thiem [born in 1993]
138: Marin Cilic
136: Federico Delbonis [born in 1990]
132: Gael Monfils
131: Feliciano Lopez
116: Diego Schwartzman [born in 1992]
115: Pablo Andujar
113: Pablo Carreno Busta [born in 1991]
109: Andy Murray
108: Alexander Zverev [born in 1997]
107: Jeremy Chardy
103: Kei Nishikori
102: Marcel Granollers
100: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]