Casper Ruud vs Ugo Humbert Prediction: Will Ruud take revenge for Paris?

In the second round of the men's Wimbledon, sixth-ranked Norwegian Casper Ruud will meet Ugo Humbert, world number 112. Although the Scandinavian was not considered a strong grass-court tennis player before, the bookmakers favor Casper in the pair, and the odds on Casper's victory are falling.

Before Wimbledon, Casper had played three matches on the grass. He has a failure in London against Peniston, a two-set loss to Bergs in Hurlingham, and a two-game victory over Alcaraz here. Casper faced Spaniard Ramos in the first round of the Majors, and Ruud was the clear favorite to win in three games. However, it should be said that the victory was not an easy one. Although the guys played three sets, Casper twice won the games through tie-breaks. For the game, Casper scored 14 aces and three double faults, winning 75% of points on the first serve and 55% on the second. On the receiving end, the Norwegian was quite good: 36%/54%. Winner/unforced errors stats are also good at 46/34. Ruud may not be at his peak, but he's in pretty good shape overall.

For Humbert, the upcoming match against Casper Ruud will be his sixth on the season's grass. Before Wimbledon, the Frenchman lost in the first round of the tournament in Stuttgart to Rinderknech, won in Halle against Albot, but lost to Hurkacz in two games, and lost in Eastbourne to Monteiro. At Wimbledon, Ugo was stronger than world No. 77 Argentine Etcheverry in a tight five-set match. The match lasted three and a half hours. Humbert served 12 doubles and three doubles faults, winning 76% of his first-serve points against 57% of his second serve points. On the receiving end, the Frenchman's stats were 34%/42%, and his winners/unforced errors ratio was 62/65.

On the fast courts in Auckland and Paris, Humbert twice beat Ruud, and Casper's only victory over Ugo was on clay in Hamburg. Note that the last face-off took place at the Paris Masters in November 2020, more than a year and a half ago.

Despite the statistics, we are on the side of Casper Ruud in the pairing. Since the last meeting between the Frenchman and the Norwegian, Ruud has added a lot and moved up into the top ten of the rankings. Yes, the grass is not the best surface for the Norwegian, but Ugo is clearly on the decline. Last year we would not have bet on Humbert winning the tournament in Halle, but Ugo's current statistics are not impressive. If Humbert doesn't add qualitatively and Ruud plays the upcoming match as well as he did against Ramos, we doubt the Frenchman can win. That said, the Scandinavian is unlikely to have an easy walk. Humbert has experience beating the Scandinavian on fast courts, so he will try to create maximum problems for the sixth-ranked player in the world. Here are the betting options for the meeting:

• W1+Total Over (30.5) for 2.08;
• Total sets - 4 for 2.60;
• Correct score 3:1 for 4.64.