“I’ve followed him since I was a little boy”

Emil Ruusuvuori defeated a grand slam winner for the first time in his tennis singles career when he defeated the experienced Swiss Stan Wawrinka In the opening round of the singles of the ATP-Masters tournament in Montreal.

Ruusuvuori defeated three-time grand slam winner Wawrinka in a match that lasted more than two hours 6–3, 3–6, 6–3.

– A really cool win. However, I have followed Stan and his journey since he was a little boy, winning three grand slams. Incredibly good player, great respect for him, Ruusuvuori said after the match.

Rain postponed the start of the match by four hours. In the opening set, Ruusuvuori immediately broke his opponent’s pass, took care of his own serving shifts and wrapped up the set in 40 minutes with a score of 6–3.

In the fifth game of the second set, Ruusuvuori broke Wawrinka’s serve, but lost his own in the next two service turns. Wawrinka, who improved his forehand, turned the 2–3 loss situation around and stormed to a 6–3 set win.

In the third set and its sixth game, Ruusuvuori used its fourth break point to take a decisive 4–2 lead. In the end, the set was 6–3 for the Finn.

– It was all about the little things. I was able to raise the level of passing a little bit in the third set and I feel like it was crucial today to get a few more points for free.

The 37-year-old three-time Grand Slam tournament winner Wawrinka is returning to the competition courts after foot surgery and his world ranking is currently 322.

Next, Rusuvuori will face Poland By Hubert Hurkacz, which he won last week at the ATP500 in Washington. 25-year-old Hurkacz is ranked 10th in the world.

– He will certainly come quite hot. It was a good match last week against him. He made quite a lot of mistakes, so now he’s definitely trying to do everything possible and prepare and improve.

– However, he is a top 10 player, but let’s start knocking him down again with the same tactics, Ruusuvuori planned.