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Great Britain's Liam Broady defeated fourth seed Casper Ruud 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday, July 6. It was the first big upset of the tournament, as the world No. 142 got the better of the two-time French Open runner-up.
The match went on for a little more than three and a half hours, as the Brit displayed brilliant tennis in the final set to seal the deal.
The home-favourite will now face 26th seed Denis Shapovalov in the third round on Friday, July 7. Shapovalov will be the slight favorite, but Liam Broady will fancy his chances in front of his home crowd.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match between Broady and Ruud.
#1 Casper Ruud went around his backhand frequently during the first few sets
Casper Ruud has a tendency to try to dominate rallies with his formidable forehand and Thursday was no exception. The 24-year-old Norwegian dictated terms with his forehand for a large part of the second and third sets after having lost the first.
The Norweigan went around his backhand quite often to hit his inside-out forehand with a lot of venom that put Broady under pressure.
The 29-year-old Brit, meanwhile, hit a lot of his shots into the net to make Ruud's job easier. Thus, at the end of the third set, the momentum was with Ruud, who looked good for a win.
#2 Liam Broady's tactic of opening up the court on both sides paid off
From the fourth set onwards, Liam Broady started taking time off Ruud to not allow him enough room to go around his backhand. The southpaw did that by hitting his crosscourt forehand with a sharp angle and also by smashing his down-the-line backhand with more venom.
Broady also hit his down-the-line shots off either wing after having opened up the court on both sides by playing the angles well. This put Ruud under a lot of stress and he buckled under that, especially in the final set.
Broady played scintillating tennis from the baseline and also used the drop shots well to serve the Norwegian a bagel in it.
Ruud was able to win only 45 percent of the points on his second serve in the match, with that figure marred by his performance in the fifth set. Broady, in comparison, won 68 percent of the points on his second serve, which made a decisive difference in the end.
