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Ruud, 22, won his first career ATP title last year in a
clay-court event at Buenos Aires. He added four more clay-court
championships before prevailing earlier this month in hard-court
event at San Diego.
He is riding a nine-match overall winning streak since a
second-round loss to the Netherlands' Botic van de Zandschulp at
the U.S. Open.
Ruud won Monday despite Harris racking up an 18-2 edge in aces.
The key was Ruud saving all eight break points he faced on his
serve.
"It was a very tough match and I was fortunate to get through in
the end," Ruud said. "There were only some points here and there
that decided this match. I saved a lot of break points and in
crucial points I stepped up my game.
"It was frustrating because Lloyd was playing well and I was not
really feeling the groove like I felt in the first match, and in
the end I was fortunate to get through."
Top-seeded Daniil Medvedev of Russia downed 27th-seeded Filip
Krajinovic of Serbia 6-2, 7-6 (1) in 90 minutes. Medvedev
cruised in the first after breaking serve twice for a 3-0 lead,
but Krajinovic pushed him in the second set, when each player
had two service breaks. Medvedev powered to a 5-0 lead in the
decisive tiebreaker and closed out the win.
Unseeded Tommy Paul of the United States upset fourth-seeded
Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Serving for the match at
5-3 in the third set, Paul had a match point but allowed Rublev
to rally to claim that game before pulling even at 5-5.
However, Paul subsequently held serve and then broke Rublev's
serve to finish off the victory.
Eleventh-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina advanced with a
three-set win. Meanwhile, eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz of
Poland, 19th-seeded Aslan Karatsev of Russia and 23th-seeded
Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria moved on in straight sets.
Schwartzman ousted Great Britain's Daniel Evans 5-7, 6-4, 6-0.
Karatsev upset ninth-seeded Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-2, and
Dimitrov got past 16th-seeded Reilly Opelka of the United States
6-3, 6-4. Hurkacz blitzed the United States' Frances Tiafoe 6-3,
6-2.
Schwartzman lost just eight points in his final set.
Karatsev had no aces to Shapovalov's 12 and posted a miserable
first-serve rate (44 percent), but he faced only one break
point, which he saved.
Dimitrov put 77 percent of his first serves in play and won 86
percent of those points (32 of 37). He never faced a break
point.
Hurkacz shook off both break points on his serve.
In the last match of the night, 21st-seeded Cameron Norrie of
Great Britain beat 15th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain
6-4, 5-7, 6-3. Norrie fired 12 aces while Bautista Agut had
none.
--Field Level Media
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