2021 Australian Open First Round – Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson Preview & Prediction
THE FACTS
Where is Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson taking place? Melbourne Park, Melbourne
When is Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson on and what time does it start? Tuesday 9th February, 2021 – not before 04:30 (UK)
Where can I get tickets for Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson? Click here to reach the official 2021 Australian Open ticket selection
What channel is Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson on? The 2021 Australian Open will be televised on Eurosport so it is worth checking their schedule for this specific match
Where can I stream Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson in the UK? Sky customers can stream this match on the Sky Go app. Alternatively, the match can be streamed to subscribers of Eurosport Player, either on the official website or as an add-on to an Amazon Prime subscription
THE LOWDOWN
CASPER RUUD
- Casper Ruud picked up his first ATP title in 2020 at the Buenos Aires Open just before the coronavirus pandemic cut his season short and the Norwegian youngster will be a real threat on the clay courts this year especially.
- The world number 28 was the winner in his only previous meeting with Jordan Thompson in a five-set marathon match at the 2018 French Open.
JORDAN THOMPSON
- World number 49 Jordan Thompson was the 11th seed at the Great Ocean Road Open and made it all the way to the quarter-finals before losing to Thiago Monteiro on Friday.
- The 26-year-old Aussie will have been gutted to miss out on the cut for the ATP Cup this year but a 3-1 record heading into the Australian Open first round is a decent bedrock.
THE PREDICTION
Norway’s young tennis star Casper Ruud is certainly at this stage a clay-court specialist but he the world number 28 for a reason and should be the favourite coming into this first round match. He has already beaten the Aussie in the first round of a Grand Slam, at Roland-Garros in 2018, but this is only his second match of 2021 and he lost the first to Jiri Vesely last week. Jordan Thompson is a showman and particularly enjoys the support of a home crowd in Melbourne and that could see him just edge this match with his better 2021 match practice behind him. Both players should take a set in this meeting and it could well go to five again, although Thompson can feed off what will likely be a 100% biased crowd here to sneak past the Norwegian.
