Casper Ruud will meet Zhizhen Zhang in the Third Round of the 2023 French Open. The match will be played on Saturday June 3rd, 2023. 

Fourth seeded Casper Ruud of Norway is on a mission to repliacte last year’s performance here at Roland Garros where he reached the Final. He has had a disappointing season by his high standards, but started brightly here at the 2023 French Open, dismissing Elias Ymer in straight sets. He then surprisingly lost a set to Zeppieri in the Second Round, seemingly losing focus after being in control of the match. He recovered well to close the match out, but will have to improve since the matches will only get tougher from here. 

Zhizhen Zhang is unseeded here at the 2023 French Open and is ranked 71st in the world. He had a very impressive First Round win over the experienced Dusan Lajovic and then overcame Tirante in the Second Round, winning 7-6, 6-3, 6-4. He is playing with confidence, and is no slouch on this surface. Striking 32 winners in the match, he also served well to give his opponent few chances. While this match seems one sided on paper, Zhang has had some huge wins over Fritz and Shapovaov this season and will not back down. 

This could be a tricky Third Round match for Casper Ruud, but I am expecting him to still come through unscathed. The Norwegian is a fighter, and even though he hasn’t been at his best all year, he has bags of experience at this level and he will have enough quality. Zhang has been solid all year and will be hoping to extend his longest ever run at a Slam, but I expect his luck to run out here. Casper Ruud to win and move onto the Round of 16 here at the 2023 French Open.