Seventh seed Ruud into French Open second round
Sports
Casper Ruud beat Felipe Meligeni Alves in the first round of French Open on Tuesday.
PARIS (AFP) – Norway's Casper Ruud started his bid for a maiden French Open title, after final defeats in each of the past two years, with a comfortable win against Brazilian qualifier Felipe Meligeni Alves on Tuesday.
Ruud, who won clay-court titles in Barcelona and Geneva in the build-up to Roland Garros, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory and will next face either Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain or Monegasque qualifier Valentin Vacherot.
"It's great to be back here at Roland Garros," he said. "Hopefully I can make it another good year here."
Ruud was beaten in straight sets by Novak Djokovic in last year's final following a one-sided loss to Rafael Nadal in the 2022 showpiece.
He also lost the 2022 US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz.
RUUD RESTORES FAMILY PRIDE
Casper Ruud restored a little family pride at the French Open on Tuesday when he defeated Brazil's Felipe Meligeni Alves whose uncle once deprived the Norwegian's father of a tour title.
Ruud, runner-up at Roland Garros for the last two years, swept aside his opponent 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
Up in the stands on Court Philippe Chatrier was his father and coach Christian, a former top 40 player who only reached one final in his career.
That was in Bastad in 1995 when he lost to Fernando Meligeni.
"We talked about it at breakfast, actually," said Norwegian seventh seed Ruud.
"My father lost the Bastad final one time in his career, so he was never able to win an ATP tournament, and the guy he lost to in the final was Felipe's uncle.
"I think both me and my dad wanted to get some revenge on the Meligeni family. It was worth the wait, I guess. It was many years we had to wait, but we got it today."
Meligeni ended his career with a 2-0 record over Christian Ruud, also defeating the Norwegian in the second round of the US Open in 1997.
