Ruud outlasts Purcell in Australian Open five-set thriller

Casper Ruud defeated Max Purcell 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7) on Thursday night. He’ll face the winner of the match between No 19 seed Cameron Norrie and Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri in the next round

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Ricky Dimon

January 18, 2024

Australian Open •Second round • completed

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M. PurcellvsC. Ruud

Close but no cigar has mostly been the story for Australian men at this year’s Australian Open. Jordan Thompson lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets. Also on Wednesday, Alexei Popyrin was one point away from taking a two sets to one lead over Novak Djokovic — only to fall in four.

On Thursday afternoon it was Max Purcell’s turn to try his hand.

Purcell almost treated the home crowd in Margaret Court Arena to a monumental win over No 11 seed Casper Ruud, but again the fan favorite came up short. Ruud held off a furious charge by the underdog to prevail 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7) after three hours and 50 minutes to book his spot in the round of 32.

The match was every bit as good as the score suggests, with the players engaging in high-quality contrast of styles — Ruud with his consistent baseline game going up against Purcell’s net-charging tactics. The result was a contest in which service breaks came at a premium. Ruud saved a whopping 12 of 13 break points, while Purcell fought off eight of 10.

The most dramatic break-point survival came with Purcell serving at 3-4 in the fifth, when the world No 45 came up with a pair of incredible plays at the net. He also saved a match point at 4-5 before finally earning a routine hold at 5-6 to force a decisive tiebreaker.

In the ‘breaker, however, Ruud raced to a 3-0 lead and never trailed at any point.

Ruud rises in a second round epic 🔥

4️⃣ hours and 5️⃣ sets later, @CasperRuud98 prevails over Purcell 3-6 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3 6-7[7-10]. #AusOpen • #AO2024 pic.twitter.com/mDGdm8xY7X
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2024

“I think his plan was just to stress me as much as he could, just rip balls from the back, try to rush, come to the net,” Ruud said of Purcell. “He does it so well. It’s tough for me to find any rhythm.

“I do feel like it was a well-played match. I just saw the stats after the match. He hit 93 winners I think and he came to the net 101 times and won I think 70 or 72 points out of 100 at the net. It just shows how different he plays from kind of the rest of the guys on tour.

“He serves great, as well. He’s not the biggest guy, but he has a really quick arm and shoulder. He generates a lot of spin speed with the serve, and he mixes up. He’s a really tricky player and a great tennis player in my eyes, even though he plays different from others. I’m very happy with the win.”

“No regrets,” Purcell concluded. “(It was a) great match with Casper. (I’m) looking to take that confidence into the rest of the season.”

Next up for Ruud is the winner of a match between No 19 seed Cameron Norrie and Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri.

Ruud previously defeated Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas (6-1, 6-3, 6-1) in Melbourne. Purcell opened with a victory over Hungarian qualifier Mate Valkusz (3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, 7-5).