Casper Ruud strolled into the Italian Open quarterfinals on Tuesday after easily beating home hope Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-1.
Clay court specialist Ruud is yet to drop a set in Rome, and he looked in fine form on a windy centre court, in stark contrast to eighth seed Musetti, who has clearly been struggling physically in Rome.
Musetti was in tears at the end of his third-round win over Francisco Cerundolo and had to take a medical time-out for a problem with his left thigh during the second set against Ruud.
The Italian will drop out of the top 10 of the men’s world rankings ahead of the French Open next week, and he later told reporters that he is unsure of whether he will participate in Paris.
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“I don’t know, in the next couple of days we’ll do some closer tests, something I’ve not been able to do given that I’m constantly playing. I just hope that the pain I felt is less bad than we think it might be,” said Musetti.
Norwegian Ruud, who was destroyed by Jannik Sinner in last year’s quarterfinals in Rome, is on the other side of the draw from the world number one and will face Karen Khachanov in the last eight.
Khachanov, seeded 13th, ended Dino Prizmic’s bid to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, seeing off the spirited Croatian qualifier 6-1, 7-6 (7/2).
Prizmic had announced himself on the big stage this week by knocking out Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Published on May 12, 2026