Austria led Finland 2-1 in a Davis Cup World Group playoff tie in 2019 when Dominic Thiem took to the courtroom. World No. 5 was the most important title within the tie – a two-time French Open finalist on the time – as he ready to face a little-known participant named Emile Rusuvuri. This was the primary time the teen was up towards a high 10 participant. But it did not matter to him as he reversed 6-3, 6-2.
On paper, Austria was anticipated to get away with a tie. They ultimately received 3–2, however solely after a decisive set tie-breaker within the fifth match. And it was solely due to Rusuvuori’s bravery that it reached this far.
“It was a long day, and I didn’t expect it,” mentioned Austrian captain Stefan Kubek.
Ruusuvuori was already turning heads via his progress within the charts. He began 2019 in 402nd place and completed it on 121. But it was on the Espoo Metro Arena – a facility used primarily for ice hockey – the place he scored the most important win of his profession. On Friday, now ranked 74th, he’ll take to the identical courtroom as he leads the end cost towards the Indians touring for a Davis Cup playoff spot.
The 22-year-old was simply 5 years previous when he began enjoying tennis. He was launched to the sport when an area coach noticed him enjoying badminton together with his mom close to their residence in Helsinki. He is now the highest-ranked singles participant who will participate on this weekend’s tie.
The match-up was initially scheduled for September final 12 months, however was delayed as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. In the interim, Finland’s spearhead broke into the highest 100 for the primary time in his profession and didn’t fall again to a few figures for greater than every week. And there is no shock in its upward trajectory.
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Rusuvuri reached the semi-finals of the Nur Sultan ATP occasion final 12 months, and has additionally made it to the last-four stage of the ATP occasions in Winston-Salem and Atlanta over the previous few months. And Thiem hasn’t been his solely top-10 scalp.
In March, competing in his first ATP 1000 Masters, he got here from behind to upset world No. 7 Alexander Zverev in Miami. It was a match that noticed the potential to seriously change the Finn’s technique. In the primary set he tried to redirect Zverev’s firepower. When that did not work, he started to vary his recreation. He made liberal use of topspin, slice and drop photographs. He started hitting the ball rapidly, giving Zverev little time to react, and infrequently came visiting the web to complete the factors.
Getting a comeback win after dropping the primary set – is one thing he has confronted towards each the Indian gamers, who’re more likely to face off this weekend. He defeated World No. 187 and India No. 3 Ramkumar Ramanathan 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a Challenger occasion in Canberra final 12 months. Earlier this 12 months Rusuvuori defeated India’s No. 1 Prajnesh Gunneswaran (ranked 165) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 on the Washington DC ATP occasion.
Between the 2 matches, he was additionally invited to coach with Rafael Nadal throughout the 2020 low season.
Changes to the Davis Cup guidelines within the earlier season ended the regional separation in Group 1. This method India, a staff that performed within the East Asia/Oceania group, may entice Europe’s Finland. India have usually been sturdy within the zonal Group 1 phases – they’ve reached the World Group playoffs for the previous seven years. However, the Finns can be the strongest staff within the group stage on the time.
And Rusuvuori is the most important participant he would have confronted at this stage of the competitors.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
