Mallorca Championships 2021: Daniil Medvedev vs Casper Ruud preview, head-to-head & prediction

Match details

Fixture: (1) Daniil Medvedev vs (5) Casper Ruud

Date: 24 June 2021

Tournament: Mallorca Championships 2021

Round: Quarterfinals

Venue: Mallorca, Spain

Category: ATP 250

Surface: Grass

Prize money: €720,000

Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video

Daniil Medvedev vs Casper Ruud preview

Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud will lock horns on Thursday with a spot in the semifinals of the 2021 Mallorca Championships up for grabs.

The Russian took a last-minute wildcard into the tournament following a surprise first-round exit at the recently-concluded Halle Open. The move has paid off as he looks to have found some form in Mallorca.

The top seed here, Medvedev opened his campaign with a comfortable win over Corentin Moutet and will be eager to get more wins under his belt ahead of Wimbledon.

Casper Ruud

Meanwhile, Ruud is playing his first grasscourt tournament of the season and appears to have made a smooth transition from clay.

The Norwegian made good use of his powerful serve and forehand to register wins over Gilles Simon and Tennys Sandgren, but faces his toughest test yet in the form of the World No. 2.

Daniil Medvedev vs Casper Ruud head-to-head

Daniil Medvedev leads Casper Ruud 1-0 in their current head-to-head. The Russian scored a straight-sets win over his Norwegian opponent in the 2020 ATP Cup in their only previous meeting.

Daniil Medvedev vs Casper Ruud prediction

Medvedev will look to take control of the baseline exchanges.

Both Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud have relied on their serve to do a lot of the heavy lifting this week. That's unlikely to change on Thursday and the match could well be decided by a single break of serve.

Medvedev will have the edge in baseline rallies as he strikes a flatter ball better suited to the surface than Ruud's topspin-heavy groundstrokes.

Ruud's forehand, however, is still a big weapon and could cause a few problems for Medvedev. But if the Russian can maintain control of the baseline exchanges and direct a lot of the traffic to Ruud's backhand, he should emerge with the win.

Prediction: Daniil Medvedev to win in three sets