Cameron Norrie has declared Casper Ruud the favorite to win the ongoing Madrid Open and upcoming French Open after losing to the Norwegian on Monday, April 29.

Ruud made easy work of Norrie in the Spanish capital as he won 6-2, 6-4 in 80 minutes to bool his place in the Round of 16 of the Masters 1000 tournament.

The Brit spoke with Express Sport after the loss and backed the World No. 6 to win the Madrid Open as well as the French Open, where he reached the finals in the last two editions.

“I would say he [Casper Ruud] is the favorite for the tournament and probably favorite for French Open as well,” he said.

Norrie further marveled at Ruud’s backhand mastery during their match, saying:

“He hit his backhand unbelievably well today. I came in there a lot, he passed me a few times and I’m not sure he missed too many backhands today, maybe one in the first game and that’s all I can remember so it was an impressive level from him.”

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Cameron Norrie on Casper Ruud’s run at Monte-Carlo Open and Barcelona Open: “I was a bit surprised with that and how well he came out”

In the same conversation with Express Sport, Cameron Norrie stated that Casper Ruud exceeded his expectations with his dominant performances at the Monte-Carlo Masters and Barcelona earlier this month.

“It was a really good level from Casper, I was impressed with how well he’s played. Obviously really confident, playing really, really well in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona so I was a bit surprised with that and how well he came out. And I took it to him in the second set I was a little bit disappointed with the final game but good lesson,” Norrie said.

Ruud ended the Monte-Carlo Masters as second-best to Stefanos Tsitsipas after deafeating Alejandro Tabilo, Hubert Hurkacz, Ugo Humbert, and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

The Norwegian went all the way in Barcelona as he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-3 in the final to win the first ATP 500 title of his career. He did not drop a single set throughout the tournament, having beaten Alexandre Muller, Jordan Thompson, Mateo Arnaldi and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Following his win over Cameron Norrie, Casper Ruud will next take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round of the Madrid Open.