Kecmanovic’s comeback stuns Ruud in Rome

Miomir Kecmanovic pulled off one of the comeback wins of the year so far Friday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

The Serbian overcame a nightmare start to down fifth seed Casper Ruud 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 in Rome. Kecmanovic broke Ruud’s serve four times across the second and third sets to earn a two-hour, 19-minute victory, his first against an opponent from the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings since last October.

Kecmanovic struggled physically at times in the opening set and left court for a medical time-out at 0-5. Upon his opponent's return, Ruud duly secured a one-set lead, but Kecmanovic dug deep from then on to engineer a stunning turnaround and avenge his second-round defeat to the Norwegian in Madrid just 13 days ago.

The Serbian broke Ruud’s serve three times in a see-saw second set, before a similarly hard-fought decider had the Foro Italico crowd in constant suspense. Despite saving four break points in the opening game, Ruud was unable to stop Kecmanovic from clinching the decisive break of the set in the seventh game.

Sweet revenge! 💪@MioKecmanovic gets the win this time around against Ruud 0-6 6-4 6-4.@InteBNLdItalia | #IBI24 pic.twitter.com/Ptboqj6Npi

— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 10, 2024

“It means a lot, especially on clay, where he is one of the best players today,” said Kecmanovic. “I’m happy that I was able [after the first set] to come back and win.”

Despite his early physical struggles, Kecmanovic was not afraid to go toe to toe in exhausting baseline exchanges with Ruud. The Serbian struck only 23 winners to Ruud’s 29, but after putting his early struggles behind him, he was relentlessly consistent from the baseline.

It was Kecmanovic’s first tour-level victory against Ruud since the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, and he now leads the Norweigan 3-2 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

“I had some back problems [recently]. I asked the doctor for as many pills as he could give me to numb the pain,” said Kecmanovic. “When it kicked in I started moving and feeling much better. I guess I just tried to forget about the score and just play and hit, and see what happens. Luckily it went my way this time.”

The No. 58 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Kecmanovic will next play Brazilian qualifier Thiago Monteiro, who backed up his first-round victory against Gael Monfils by defeating Jordan Thompson 6-1, 6-3.

Also on Friday, Taylor Fritz continued his strong form on the European clay with a commanding opening victory in Rome. The 11th-seeded American prevailed 6-3, 6-4 against home favourite Fabio Fognini to improve to 8-3 on clay for the 2024 season.

Fritz saved both break points he faced against Fognini to reach the third round in Rome for the first time. The 26-year-old last week reached the semi-finals in Madrid, having reached his maiden ATP Tour championship match on clay last month in Munich.

_{^{Taylor Fritz beats Fabio Fognini on Friday in Rome. Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour}}

Fritz’s third-round opponent will be his countryman Sebastian Korda, who forged another American success against a home hope by defeating Flavio Cobolli 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-4. With his win in his first Lexus ATP Head2Head clash against Cobolli, the 24th-seeded Korda completed the set of earning a match win at all nine Masters 1000 events.

The 16th seed Karen Khachanov also advanced at the Foro Italico. He downed Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 6-4 to set a big-hitting third-round clash with 20th seed Francisco Cerundolo, who eased past Italian wild card Matteo Gigante 6-1, 6-3.