▲ Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan salutes the crowd after defeating Cameron Ruud of Norway in the men's singles quarterfinals at the ATP Eugene Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul on Sept. 30, 2022. (Yonhap)
▲ Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan returns a shot to Cameron Ruud of Norway in the men's singles quarterfinals at the ATP Eugene Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul on Sept. 30, 2022. (Yonhap)

S Korea-tennis tournament

Top seed Ruud stunned at ATP Korea Open

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- The top seed Casper Ruud suffered a shock loss in the quarterfinals of the lone ATP Tour tournament in South Korea on Friday, falling to the unseeded Japanese player Yoshihito Nishioka in three sets.

Nishioka, world No. 56, defeated the second-ranked Ruud 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, in the biggest upset of the Eugene Korea Open at Olympic Park Tennis Center in Seoul. The 26-year-old from Japan is two victories away from his second career ATP title.

In the semifinals on Saturday, Nishioka will either play Mackenzie McDonald or Aleksandar Kovacevic, both of the United States. The two Americans were scheduled to play their quarterfinal match later Friday.

Nishioka took the first set over Ruud, the finalist at the French Open and the U.S. Open this year, with stunning ease. Nishioka broke Ruud at the start and quickly went up 4-1 before closing out the set with an ace.

Ruud responded in the second set by winning four of the final five games. In the deciding set, Nishioka had his first break of the set to go up 4-2 and didn't lose another game the rest of the way.

He held his serve after going to deuce twice for a 5-2 lead, and one of the ATP's shortest players relied on a couple of gorgeous volleys in the clinching game.

The other semifinal match in the singles will pit Denis Shapovalov of Canada against Jenson Brooksby of the U.S.

Shapovalov, the fourth seed, beat Radu Albot of Moldova 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals Friday.

Brooksby, the eighth seed, had a walkover from the quarters after his scheduled opponent, No. 2 seed Cameron Norrie, withdrew due to an undisclosed illness.

Norrie was the third seeded player to pull out of the tournament. No. 6 seed Borna Coric pulled out before the start of the tournament with an ankle injury, and No. 3 seed Taylor Fritz quit before his second round match Thursday with an illness.

Earlier Friday, the South Korean duo of Song Min-kyu and Nam Ji-sung lost to Nicolas Barrientos of Colombia and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico in the doubles quarterfinals in three sets, 7-5, 3-6, 10-7.

The Korea Open is the first ATP tournament in Seoul since 1996. It will conclude Sunday with finals in both the doubles and the singles.

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