Norway's Casper Ruud will face Australia's Jordan Thompson at the 2024 ATP Barcelona tennis tournament in an upcoming match. Thompson pulled off an upset in the previous round, knocking out Jaime Munar at +250 (bet365). This upcoming match between Ruud and Thompson will be a round-of-sixteen match in the draw, which is also known as the 2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. Ruud, who was in the Monte-Carlo Masters final last week and is an accomplished clay-courter, is priced at -500 (bet365). My Ruud vs Thompson prediction is that the latter player will challenge for a victory in this match, bringing his underdog odds and/or handicaps into play.
Schedule: Right-click/Open in the New Tab to check match times: subject to change
Casper Ruud vs Jordan Thompson Head-to-Head Series
The Ruud vs Thompson h2h is 2-3 in favor of the latter player. Their series dates back to the 2018 season. They did meet earlier this season in an important match. Thompson won the Los Cabos final at Ruud's expense, a match that was played in February. Ruud won their only clay-court match but that match took place almost six years ago now. It was at the 2018 French Open, with Ruud winning a five-set match. On sets, Thompson leads 9-6, which is a surprising trend given that Ruud is the far more accomplished player.
The Draw: Right-click/Open the link in a new tab for the draw for the 2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
Casper Ruud's Recent Matches and Results
Ruud played in the second round on Wednesday. He beat Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-4 to advance. Ruud has played several matches over the last little while. On April 14th, he lost the Monte-Carlo final to Stefanos Tsitsipas. That was the 5th match in five days for Ruud. His match against Thompson will be his 7th since April 10th.
Overall, the Norwegian played 12 sets of tennis in Monte-Carlo, going 8-4 on the sets. Previously, Ruud opened his clay-court season in Estoril, where he went 2-1 in the draw. He performed well in multiple hard-court events, including Indian Wells, Acapulco, and Los Cabos earlier this season. Furthermore, Ruud has some distinguished success on clay as he made the French Open final in each of the last two seasons. However, heading into the match against Thompson, the Norwegian has played quite a lot of matches lately.
Casper Ruud
Serving ability: 13th/clay/last 52 weeks
Return-of-serve ability: 21st/clay/last 52 weeks
Jordan Thompson's Recent Matches and Results
Thompson debuted on clay this season at the 2024 ATP Houston event. The Australian went 2-1 in the draw, losing in the event's quarterfinals to Frances Tiafoe in a competitive loss. Earlier this season, Thompson won the ATP Los Cabos draw. That title marks the only career title for the veteran.
So far in Barcelona this week, he has played just one match, which was against Jaime Munar. That was a 28-game match that went 6-4 in the third set for Thompson. Before that, he had more than ten days off as his exit in Houston came back on April 5th. Last season on clay, Thompson only entered three events and he went 0-3 in his matches. That he has started this season 3-1 on clay suggests that he's much better prepared for the clay-court season this season than he was last season.
Ruud vs Thompson Prediction: Thompson to win
Thompson at 3-1 on clay this season and at 3-2 overall against Ruud over the years is a good reason to back the Aussie in this match at underdog odds. He is at +350 (bet365) but might have caught Ruud at a point where he is low on energy.
I think -500 overrates the Norwegian in this match. I recommend making a value bet on Thompson here. I could price Ruud as a favorite in this contest for sure but only at about -175 to -200 for true odds. My recommendation is to go with Thompson at +350 or to look at handicaps, which weren't available at the time of writing. I would be happy to have Thompson to win a set at longer than EVEN or at +4.5 on games.
Thompson vs Ruud prediction: Draw at the 2024 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
The winner of this match will have a good chance to make the semifinals. Matteo Arnaldi and Marco Trungelliti will face one another in the nearby match in the draw. Sebastian Baez and Nicolas Jarry were the seeded players in that section but they both went out.
