Ruud rolls limping Musetti to reach last eight

Casper Ruud rolled over limping Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-1 on a windswept Tuesday to reach his fifth career quarter-final at the Rome Masters on Tuesday.

The former top 10 Norwegian ranked 25th backed up his last-eight spot at the Foro Italico from a year ago in 58 minutes, with Musetti carrying a left thigh injury from his previous match.

The fourth-round contest was staged in tricky conditions,with shifting wind making life challenging.

“The first set was wobbly but I’m happy to be through,” Ruud said after eliminating his Italian opponent. “But I hope Lore gets back to 100 per cent quickly.

Ruud added: “I had to try and make the point short; you cannot rally much in the wind. With the wind behind you try to play as heavy as possible and take advantage of it.”

The winner said that playing against an injured opponent is difficult. The Norwegian committed just four unforced errors in a near-perfect second set while Musetti has 23 unforced errors for the match.

He received a medical timeout and a taping of his third down a set and 0-3.

“”It’s not easy when you saw that your opponent was struggling in his previous match,’ Ruud said.

“But that is the brutality of tennis – you have to do everything against your opponent.

“If you are not sure what state he is in, you can think more about him than yourself during the match.”