Casper Ruud advanced to the next round of the Masters tournament in Indian Wells after defeating Valentin Vacherot.
Ruud took the match against Vacherot with scores of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the round of 16, Ruud will face either Spain’s world number one Carlos Alcaraz or France’s Arthur Rinderknech.
Vacherot broke Ruud’s serve at 3-4 in the first set and ultimately won it 3-6. Ruud responded in the second, breaking his opponent while moving ahead to 4-2, eventually taking the set 6-3.
In the decisive third set, Ruud immediately broke Vacherot’s serve and then built a 2-0 lead. The Norwegian maintained control throughout the set, closing it out with a 6-4 victory.
Vacherot was a breakout star on the tennis circuit last year. As a qualifier, he won the Shanghai Masters, defeating higher-ranked players like Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune along the way.
Monday’s match marked the first career meeting between Ruud and Vacherot.
Ruud is the 13th seed in the California tournament and received a bye in the first round. On Saturday, he easily defeated Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko, winning 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
The Indian Wells competition is an ATP 1000-level event, second only to the four Grand Slam tournaments in prestige.
