Casper Ruud kicked off his title defence at the Madrid Open with a dominant opening victory over home hope Jaume Munar.
Ruud, who claimed a maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy in the Spanish capital last year, beat Munar in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1.
The Norwegian will take on another Spaniard, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, in the third round, against whom he is 3-3 at tour-level events,
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Prior to the Madrid Open, Ruud had sustained a leg injury during his campaign at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
Having missed the Barcelona Open, the 27-year-old revealed he is now back to full fitness.
Casper Ruud delivers fitness update after opening win in Madrid
Speaking to Sky Sports after beating Munar, Ruud said: “I felt good. I mean, I feel 100% again, you know, otherwise I wouldn’t be stepping on the court if I didn’t feel well.
“Luckily, the small injury that I got in Monaco healed well. It was unfortunate, but I was smart to skip Barcelona and take four or five days completely off.
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“Let it heal and also work a lot physically and prevention work and rehab, so after five, six days I felt, you know, quite ready to step back on court.
“I took it easy and then luckily I had two weeks from Monaco to playing my match here, so two weeks can go slow sometimes, but it can also go fast, so I’m happy to be back on court and feeling 100%.”
Ruud has featured at nine ATP events so far this season, with his best result being a quarterfinal finish in Delray Beach.
Casper Ruud reflects on his meeting with Rafael Nadal
During his time away from the tour, Ruud visited the Rafael Nadal academy in Mallorca, where he had the chance to speak with the King of Clay himself.
Recalling his talk with Nadal, Ruud said: “I met him one day when I was there in the academy. At that time, I hadn’t started playing at 100% yet.
“I was just feeling the ball a bit, working on a few things. I had a nice chat with him, I hadn’t seen him for a while.
“So most of all he’s enjoying his time off from tennis, and he’s been on this hamster wheel for 20 years, so it’s time for him to enjoy his time off.
“I don’t want to bother him too much, but it was nice to talk. We talked a bit about everything, you know, golf, tennis, life in general, and it was good to see him again.”
Ruud faced Nadal twice on the ATP Tour, with one of their meetings being the 2022 Roland Garros final.
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