By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday October 4, 2022
Nick Kyrgios dominated Chinese Tapei's Jason Tseng, while Casper Ruud was knocked out by Jaume Munar.
Photo Source: Getty
Nick Kyrgios was on point in his first appearance since the US Open.
Top-seeded Casper Ruud, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
Kyrgios danced past Chinese Tapei’s Jason Tseng 6-3, 6-1 in 66 minutes on Tuesday night at the Rakuten Open in Tokyo, the 2016 champion displaying some peak tennis, particularly down the stretch.
The No.5 seed improved to 8-2 lifetime in Tokyo and will face either Kamil Majchrzak or Sho Shimabukuro in the second round.
The 20th-ranked Aussie dropped just six points on serve and saved the only break point he faced.
He broke Tseng four times from eight opportunities, and won 14 of 23 second-serve return points to improve to 36-10 on the season.
Ruud Sent Packing
Hours earlier, Ruud fell prey to Spain’s Jaume Munar, 6-3, 6-3, as the top-seeded Norwegian put forth an erratic performance against the 25-year-old, who is his frequent practice partner when the pair spend time at Rafael Nadal’s academy in Mallorca, Spain.
Munar wasn’t really threatened by Ruud as he broke the World No.3 four times on eight opportunities to notch his first Top-10 win on a hard court.
"I think it's one of the best [wins of my career]," Munar said during his post-match on-court interview with Lee Goodall. "Casper is a great player. We all know that maybe this is not his best surface, not even mine. But I managed to play the tennis I needed to play today.”
Munar was off to the races early, stretching out to a 5-1 lead in the opener.
In the second set things were more complicated but the Spaniard helped himself immensely when he wiggled out of a 0-40 situation while serving at 3-2.
Munar broke in the final game and avoided having to serve the match out. He will face compatriot Pedro Martinez in the second round.