Picture Credit: Twitter
Norway’s Casper Rudd managed to stun World Number two Alexander Zverev as he defeated him 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Miami Open. The World Number eight beat Zverev for the first time in his career as he is one step away from reaching his maiden ATP 1000 final.
But in this victory, Rudd also pulled off a magical pocket catch. As he hit a shot that was deemed to be outside, Zverev returned the ball with a lofty forehand to restart the serve. But here, Rudd positioned himself under the ball and stretched out the pocket of his shorts. Like clockwork, the ball went straight into his side pocket as everyone shared a light moment.
Checkout Casper Rudd’s catch here:
Today was my toughest challenge yet: Casper Rudd
After the match, Rudd was extremely elated with his performance and called the match his ‘toughest challenge of the tournament’. He said, “It feels good and it means a lot. This is my first semi-final in a Masters 1000 on hard courts, so that's a good feeling. I'm very happy to do it here in Miami."
"I've felt good the couple weeks I've been here practising and the matches have felt very good. I want to of course keep going. Today was my toughest challenge yet of the tournament and on Friday will be another big one. I hope that I can take what I've learned from my three previous [Masters 1000] semi-finals and bring it into Friday's match.”
He also talked about his opponent Alexander Zverev. He said, “I think I've seen Sascha play better than he did today, but I took advantage of it. I was focused, I was on top of my game, and of course, I had a little down period in the second, but I stayed focused and served really well in the first and third sets. That was the key for the match, I think.”
“The second set I was feeling... some issues with the taping of my toe. I know it sounds a little bit silly maybe, but it was slipping off my toe, so it was a little uncomfortable to move. I just had to redo it after the second set to keep it sticky again. Changed my socks and everything,” Rudd added.