tennis | Friday, September 9, 2022 6:52 AM (Revised at: Friday, September 9, 2022 1:03 PM)

Friday Tennis Best Bet: US Open Men, Casper Ruud vs Karen Khachanov

Jon Reid

Casper Ruud vs. Karen Khachanov Best Bet: Friday, September 9th

After the women decided their two finalists for the final on Thursday night, it’s on the men’s draw to do the same on Friday, as Carlos Alcaraz takes on American Frances Tiafoe, while Casper Ruud does battle with Karen Khachanov in the other semifinal.

The former match will be fun to watch, just from an entertainment standpoint, and one wonders how the crowd support will be divvied up, but it’s the latter match that we’ll focus on for our semifinal selection.

In this article:

Casper Ruud vs Karen Khachanov Preview
Casper Ruud vs Karen Khachanov Best Bet

Casper Ruud vs Karen Khachanov Preview

September 9th, Time TBD

It may not be the more exciting match of the two, or even draw many casual fans, but the Ruud vs. Khachanov encounter is certainly one that could fly under the radar in terms of both entertainment value, as well as betting value.

With most of the chatter surrounding the phenom taking on the in-form and incredibly entertaining American, not many are paying much attention to this tilt between one man on a continuing quest to show the tennis world he’s not just a clay-court specialist (Ruud) and another looking to keep his career-best tournament going and reach his first grand slam final (Khachanov).

It’ll likely be a clash of styles on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday, with Ruud possessing an improved serve, but the foundation of his game still being a potent forehand that is heavy with topspin, and strong point construction and tactics, while his Russian counterpart is more about raw athleticism and a big power kind of game, even if it tends to get away from him at times.

For me, I’m one that tends to side with the more tactical and consistent players more often than not, but in this case, my inclination is to side with the Norwegian more than usual.

This is simply because his backhand wing has never really been an offensive weapon, but it had been a major liability in the past – with him having difficulty returning with any depth and preventing his opponent from ending the point on the next ball. That has improved a great deal, and he can certainly hold his own more on that wing than in the past.

The other reason is the serve. From 2019 to this year, Ruud has seen his hold percentage increase drastically, from 77.1% to over 86%. The percentage of points won behind his first serve? Up from 70% to 75% – all the while maintaining the rate at which he manages to land that serve in.

All this is to say, Ruud has added solid serve placement and pace to his game on hard courts, along with a sturdier backhand, allowing him to make great progress on his surface versatility, and leading to the much-improved results on hard courts we’ve seen in 2022.

With him having a more tactical and consistent game than Khachanov and having closed the gap in terms of the ability to hold his own in his service games, Ruud is just the more well-rounded, dynamic player in this matchup.

Casper Ruud vs Karen Khachanov Best Bet

While Khachanov has proven himself to be a form player in the past (see his run to win the Paris Masters events a few years ago), it’s just not enough for me to deem him a big enough threat to the new-and-improved Ruud on hard courts to side with him here.

While there are matches he’s going to play at the top of his game and come through to win this match, I have Ruud covering this relatively small handicap (for the best-of-five set format) more often than not.