Ruusuvuori knocks off home hope Norrie in Eastbourne

  • Posted: Jun 25, 2024

Emil Ruusuvuori continues to thrive in the role of spoiler on British soil. The Finn extended his perfect record against British players in Great Britain to 6-0 Tuesday at the Rothesay International with a 7-6(9), 6-3 win against Cameron Norrie in the Eastbourne opening round.

The 25-year-old snapped a five-match grass-court losing streak (including matches on the ATP Challenger Tour) by improving to 10-3 against Brits at all levels and 2-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head against Norrie.

“Cam is one of the toughest players out there,” the Finn said post-match. “But playing a Brit here is good. I got on centre court and just tried to enjoy it. I played a very good level today in tough moments, so it was very good.”

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Ruusuvuori saved all seven break points against him, according to Infosys ATP Stats, including two as he served out the match. He also saved two set points in an extended opening-set tie-break before snatching the lone break of the match in the sixth game of set two. The Finn lost just two points on second serve (16/18), winning those points at an 89 per cent clip in the 95-minute match.

He will next meet China’s Shang Juncheng, who beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(4) on Monday.

Thiago Seyboth Wild also advanced early on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Aussie John McCabe. The Brazilian saved five of six break points in the victory to set up a second-round showdown with top seed Taylor Fritz.

Great Britain’s Giles Hussey earned a win on home soil in his tour-level debut, upsetting sixth seed Mariano Navone 6-4, 6-2. The 27-year-old lucky loser picked up his second victory against an opponent inside the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Rankings this week; he beat World No. 98 Arthur Cazaux in the first round of qualifying before losing to Shang.

Hussey will next meet Flavio Cobolli, a 6-4, 7-5 winner against Arthur Rinderknech. Lorenzo Sonego (d. Henry Searle), Miomir Kecmanovic (d. Zhang Zhizhen) and Yoshihito Nishioka (d. Liam Broady) also advanced in straight sets Tuesday.

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