Ruud outserves Shelton, sets Rune showdown in Acapulco SFs

Eight sets played, zero breaks conceded for Casper Ruud this week at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC. The Norwegian continued his dominant serving week on Thursday night against one of the biggest servers in the game, beating Ben Shelton 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-4 in a two-and-a-half hour quarter-final of the highest quality.

Ruud, who has faced just one break point at the Acapulco ATP 500, did not allow Shelton a single break opportunity in the marathon match. While the American protected his own delivery well for most of the evening, Ruud zeroed in on return to notch two breaks across four return games — one each in sets two and three — to turn the match decisively in his favour.

"It's really difficult. He already has one of the best serves on Tour," Ruud said post-match. "It makes it even tougher with being lefty and the spin, everything is opposite. That first return game, I had no clue what I was doing, just hit four mistakes in a row."

Simply. Too. Good. 🔥@CasperRuud98 raises his level to defeat Ben Shelton 6-7(7) 6-4 6-4 and reach the Acapulco semi-finals for the first time.@AbiertoTelcel | #AMT2024 pic.twitter.com/9yB1LgWblU

— ATP Tour (@atptour) March 1, 2024

In addition to the stellar serving from both sides, Ruud and Shelton also impressed with their powerful ground games and willingness to attack in the humid Acapulco conditions. When the rallies were extended, both men thrilled the crowd with their athleticism and variety — with Ruud ultimately taking advantage of a few Shelton drop shots at key moments in the final set.

"My game is based on trying to make a lot of balls in, make the players work for every point no matter what the score is," the Norwegian said of his game plan. "It was a bit frustrating there in the second set... He was playing well behind his serve and coming to the net, he hit some wonderful volleys."

Shelton won 29 of his 44 net points (66%), according to Infosys ATP Stats, while Ruud was more efficient on fewer approaches, winning 16 of 23 (70%).

The American claimed the opening set in style, slicing a wicked drop volley to leave his opponent stranded. But Ruud turned the tables to create a highlight of his own on match point, running down a drop volley to seal victory with a passing shot winner.

After improving to 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against the 21-year-old Shelton — who beat him in one of his first ATP Tour events in Cincinnati in 2022 — Ruud will now renew his rivalry with 20-year-old Holger Rune in the semi-finals.

"It's going to be a really tough one tomorrow against Holger," said Ruud, who leads the Dane 5-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head. "He's one of the new really young players who just keeps improving and improving, We've played each other quite a few times already and I played him from when he was really early on. It's fun to see his improvement every time he steps on court and every time I face him. So it'll be another one tomorrow and I'm going to give it my all."

Rune advanced to the semi-finals by dominating both tie-breaks in a 7-6(2), 7-6(0) win against Germany's Dominik Koepfer. Six breaks of serve were split between the pair, but Rune raised his level to extend his perfect set record this week in Acapulco (6-0).

"He's lefty and he's hitting the ball very strong. So it makes it difficult," Rune said after advancing to his third semi-final of 2024. "It's very lively conditions here, so I think it's suiting him great. But also I like it too, so it was a great match.

"I produced some great tennis to maybe close the sets earlier than I did, but this is tennis, sometimes it doesn't always go the way you want. But the most important [thing] is to fight and stay in the moment."

The second seed also remains perfect against Germans at tour-level (6-0) and in ATP 500 quarter-finals (5-0). He has won three tie-breaks in his past four sets, including in the opener against Aleksandar Kovacevic on Wednesday.