Casper Ruud upset Greek Tsitsipas and earned himself one of the biggest victories of his career on Thursday with 7-6(4), 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
The Norwegian World No. 22 showed o fear in his play against the fourth-seeded Greek ace, earning the lone break of serve in the second set to triumph after one hour and 34 minutes.

“He is one of the best players this year on the Tour, one of the ones who has won the most matches. He’s won his first Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo. Barcelona he was very close to getting the title there, as well,” Ruud said of the Greek player.

“But the conditions are a bit different here than other clay courts with the fast shots, the ball traveling faster through the air because of the altitude. You get a lot of free points with the serve that you don’t usually [get] on the clay courts. I think that also today went a bit in my advantage.

“I felt like he was doing some mistakes that he doesn’t always do. I was just trying to take care of the chances that I got.”

Ruud is into the quarter-finals of his third consecutive clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event. Last year, he made the semi-finals of International BNL d’Italia and this season’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

READ MORE: Tsitsipas dominates to cruise to the third round of Madrid Open

“It’s given me more and more confidence the more matches I’ve won,” Ruud said. “I’m feeling good, especially here in Europe on the clay.”

Tsitsipas had foreshadowed his loss to Ruud. “For sure [Ruud’s] a clay court specialist,” he said, adding that Ruud is “someone who knows the surface really well. most of his good results have come on clay so it’s a difficult task early in a Masters 1000”.

Tsitsipas is a formidable player, having just lifted his maiden Masters 1000 trophy in Monte-Carlo and reaching the final in Barcelona, where he held championship point against Rafael Nadal in the final. His surprising upset against Ruud shot him out of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Australia’s Ash Barty stretched her winning streak to nine matches, defeating Paula Badosa. She will now meet Aryna Sabalenka in the clay-court finals for the second straight tournament after both won their Madrid Open semifinals in straight sets.

Barty and Sabalenka met less than two weeks ago in the Stuttgart final, a match Barty won in three sets.