It tells you everything you need to know about Cristian Garin’s ability to trouble Casper Ruud that he has twice beaten last year’s French Open finalist on clay.
Admittedly, both wins came in 2019, well before Ruud won three straight clay-court titles or made his first grand slam final at Roland Garros. Yet both were significant. The first, in São Paulo, earned Garin a place in his maiden tour-level final while denying Ruud the same opportunity. With the second, which came in Houston, Texas a month later, Garin secured his first title while thwarting Ruud’s bid for a first trophy. It is fair to say the pair have history.
So while it is tempting to see Ruud’s 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) defeat to the Chilean qualifier in Indian Wells as part of the wider malaise that has afflicted him this season, judgement should perhaps be reserved until later this month, when he attempts to defend the 600 points he received for reaching last year’s Miami Open final. The world No 4’s defeat will still go down as a shock, of course, given that he sits 93 places above Garin in the rankings. Yet the result, which prolongs Ruud’s wait for back-to-back wins in 2023, was of a piece with a personal rivalry that Garin now leads by three victories to one.
It is not difficult to see why Ruud struggles against Garin. Nicknamed “EL Tanque” in his home country, the imposing 26-year-old has the weapons to mix it with the best, most notably a powerhouse forehand that, lethal in its own right, also affords ample opportunity to get forward. Happy to trade sledgehammer blows with Ruud from the baseline, Garin fired 27 of his 39 winners from that wing. But it was his bold and decisive net game that proved key at the pivotal moments. Garin slotted away a backhand volley to earn the opportunity that led to a decisive break in the fifth game of the opening set, and dominated from the net to win the second-set tiebreak.
“I like to play aggressive and move a lot to the net, and I think Casper is a really good player when you give time to him, so I try to go aggressive, go to the net, and play like that,” said Garin after claiming his first win over a top-10 player on a hard court.
“I’ve known Casper for a very long time, so it’s very special to keep playing like this in this tournament, so I want to keep going.”
To do so, Garin will need to find a way past a seeded player for a third straight match. Having defeated Yoshihito Nishioka, the 29th seed, in the opening round, the Chilean will face the Spanish world No 28 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 winner over 13th seed Karen Khachanov, for a place in the last eight.
Elsewhere in a lower half now shorn of its top two seeds, following Stefanos Tsitsipas’s opening-round defeat to Jordan Thompson, Alexander Zverev battled past Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 to set up a meeting with Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev, the fifth seed, notched up a 16th straight win by seeing off Ilya Ivashka of Belarus 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. The Russian, who is seeking a fourth successive title following his recent wins in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai, is not underestimating the threat posed by Zverev as the German continues his return from the ankle injury he suffered at Roland Garros last year.
“He’s coming back, he’s playing better and better,” said Medvedev. “I think he’s not yet at where he was when he got injured, but every new match against a top player is an opportunity for him to bring back this level. So I’m going have to try to play my best, and postpone it.”
Cameron Norrie, the 2021 champion, survived a major scare against Taro Daniel of Japan, recovering from a set and a break down to prevail 6-7 (5-7), 7-5, 6-2. He will next face Andrey Rublev, the sixth seed, who came through 7-5, 6-3 against Ugo Humbert of France.