Casper Ruud records 300th win of career with second-round victory at Australian Open

Casper Ruud looked dialed in at the Australian Open on Thursday night, moving comfortably past Jaume Munar in straight sets in the second round of the first Grand Slam of the year, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

With his victory over the Spaniard, he’s now through to the third round of a major for the first time since the 2024 US Open, having fallen in the second round of all three he played last year at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and US Open, and having withdrawn from Wimbledon with a knee injury.

But there's one more thing.

The Norwegian's latest victory in Melbourne Park was also the milestone 300th tour-level win of his career, making him just the fourth man born in 1998 or later to hit that number.

MOST WINS, MEN BORN IN 1998 OR LATER (tour-level):

• 371: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]
• 323: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]
• 309: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]
• 300: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]
• 282: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]

Ruud had dominated his head-to-head with Munar going into their match on Thursday night, 5-1, and things went much the same way this time, as the Norwegian was never broken in 16 service games—he only faced two break points the entire match, and they were in the same game, when he was already up two sets to love and ahead by a break at 2-1 in the third set.

And he ended up holding serve in that game, anyway.

He then broke once per set to claim a straight-set victory, finishing the match with a clean 35 winners to 35 unforced errors.

Awaiting the No. 12-seeded Ruud in the third round will be resurgent veteran Marin Cilic, who knocked out No. 21-seeded Denis Shapovalov in straight sets earlier in the day, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Ruud has won all four of their previous meetings, including their only career meeting at a Grand Slam tournament, a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 victory in the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2022.