World No. 2 Casper Ruud through to quarterfinals at Korea Open

Casper Ruud of Norway returns a shot to Nicolas Jarry of Chile during the Korea Open in Seoul on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

 
World No. 2 Casper Ruud is through to the quarterfinals of the Korea Open after beating qualifier Nicolas Jarry of Chile two sets to one on Thursday. 
 
Despite facing the tournament favorite and top seed, No. 111 Jarry didn’t make things easy for Ruud. After giving up two of his serves and conceding the first set 6-2, Jarry broke Ruud’s second serve in the second set to win 6-3, pushing the match to a third set.
 
Both players won their first two serves in the third set, until Ruud finally broke Jarry in the sixth game. That was the break that mattered in the end, and the third set finished 6-3. 
 
The match lasted one hour and 43 minutes. 
 

Nicolas Jarry of Chile reacts after winning a point against Casper Ruud of Norway during the Korea Open in Seoul on Thursday. [AP/YONHAP]

 
Ruud will next face No. 56 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, who advanced to the quarterfinals after beating fifth seed and British No. 2 Dan Evans and Taro Daniel of Japan.  
 
Second seed and British No. 1 Cameron Norrie is also through to the quarterfinals after beating Kaichi Uchida of Japan in the round of 16 on Thursday. Norrie will face Jenson Brooksby of the United States, who beat Korean No. 1 Kwon Soon-woo in the round of 16 on Thursday.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]