Sixth seed Casper Ruud survived a five-set thriller against Jaume Munar to advance to the second round of Australian Open 2025.
“It was a really tough match, I know Jaume well because we are both practising a lot in the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca,” he said. The Norwegian avoided an upset with a hard-fought 6-3 1-6 7-5 2-6 6-1 victory in three hours and 21 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.
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“When you know someone quite well, it’s always tricky because he knows my game, I know his game, and we are good friends also,” Ruud said. “I told him at the net, I got a bit lucky at the end.”
“I’m happy I stepped up and played some good points when I had to,” he added. The 26-year-old struck 48 winners and converted five break points during the match, precisely matching Munar's statistics.
"In a way, [I refused] to lose," Ruud said. "It wasn't necessarily pretty always, but it worked."
His Mallorca-born rival, who has declared the Australian Open his favourite tournament, was supported on Sunday by two-time AO semifinalist Spanish Davis Cup captain David Ferrer.
Munar won seven fewer points than Ruud, and though he’s yet to clinch a maiden ATP Tour title and hasn’t made it further than the third round of a Grand Slam in 25 attempts, he’ll likely take confidence from how close the contest was.
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Ruud, who improved his five-set record to 10-6 with the win, acknowledged that his father Christian Ruud’s record of reaching the fourth round at Australian Open 1997, a feat that he matched in 2021, is potentially the last hurdle he’s yet to surpass.
“I hope I can beat it one day,” he grinned. Norway’s most successful tennis player credits his father – and now coach - for inspiring his career. “I owe him a lot,” Ruud said.
The keen golfer prepared for the year’s first major with what he described as a “short but sweet” off-season that included exhibition matches against Holger Rune and getting engaged to fiancée Maria Galligani.
During practice weeks in Norway, Ruud focused on building his stamina with interval training that included 200-metre and 400-metre sprints.
"I didn't like those, but it's okay, you have to do it," he said. "As a tennis player, you need a lot, you need agility, speed, but also endurance ... you cannot only build muscle, you also have to try to become smooth out there."
Ruud, who in 2024 reached the semifinals at Roland Garros but didn’t progress to either the second week in Melbourne or at Wimbledon, said he hopes to perform better in Grand Slams this year.
Success at the biggest tournaments would boost his ranking, which has been as high as No. 2, and re-entering the top five is “doable, reachable, definitely,” he said.
He was within one victory of the No. 1 ranking ahead of the US Open men’s singles final in 2022, where he was denied by Carlos Alcaraz.
“If I'm playing well, I can be in position to take a few more steps,” said Ruud, who started the season strongly with singles victories over Tomas Machac and Hubert Hurkacz at the United Cup.
The right-hander broke a winless streak against Novak Djokovic, finally overcoming the 10-time AO champion in three sets in Monte Carlo last year, and said it can be an advantage to have a losing head-to-head record.
"You can play freely ... you know what's not working, you know you've lost two, three, four, five times before," he said.
"When you get that first win over someone you haven't beaten, it's a really good feeling."
The three-time Grand Slam finalist next plays the winner of Monday’s battle between Jakub Mensik and qualifier Nikoloz Basilashvili.