Rogers Cup: Casper Ruud vs. Dusan Lajovic 8/12/21 Tennis Prediction

Casper Ruud meets Dusan Lajovic in the third round of the 2021 Rogers Cup on Thursday, August 12th 2021. Who will make their way to the quarter finals?

Will we see the young Casper Ruud continuing to improve his level and find incredible success on the ATP Tour? Will Dusan Lajovic use his experience to wear down the youngster and find some holes in his game as he did against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round?

Dusan Lajovic was able to find some big gaps in the Felix Auger-Aliassime game in the second round, just ensuring he returned some high balls and slower balls to the Canadian, forcing him to find some power and speed which eventually led to him overhitting the ball. Dusan will know that if he can beat FAA, he can definitely hang in with the likes of Casper Ruud because they are similar style players. However, Ruud is less prone to errors so he will have a much tougher match on his hands.

Casper Ruud came through a hard fought match against the experienced Marin Cilic in the second round, beating the Croatian in 3 sets 6-3/3-6/6-3. Casper Ruud will know that this match was good for him to get under his belt because if allowed him to bring over the momentum he gained by winning 3 titles on clay last month over to hard courts. Casper has so much power and spin and it is hard to return his balls with depth, so he will be confident as he now meets Dusan Lajovic in the third round.

This is going to be the 2^nd meeting between both players, with Casper Ruud having won their only prior encounter. Casper Ruud beat him on clay last year where he was not as good as he is now. With the form that Ruud has shown over the last month, it will take something big to beat him, and I think that the only thing that Dusan Lajovic can do is keep things tight. At the end of the day, Casper will power his way through this match, hit the lines, and get himself in the quarter finals here in Toronto as he continues to shine on the ATP Tour.