Casper Ruud records 250th win of career to reach quarterfinals of Olympics for first time

It was a double milestone kind of day for Casper Ruud on Wednesday, as he not only recorded the 250th win of his career, but in doing so also became the first Norwegian tennis player ever, male or female, to reach the singles quarterfinals at the Olympics.

He achieved it all with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo—a player who had won three of their last four meetings—in a round-of-16 clash on Court Simonne Mathieu.

Ruud, who was born in 1998, is just the second man born in 1998 or later to hit 250 career wins, after Stefanos Tsitsipas (who was also born in 1998). He’s the seventh man born in 1995 or later to do it.

MEN BORN IN 1995 OR LATER WITH 250+ CAREER WINS (tour-level):
440: Alexander Zverev (still to play at Olympics today)
368: Daniil Medvedev
335: Stefanos Tsitsipas
318: Andrey Rublev (still to play in Washington today)
268: Taylor Fritz
265: Karen Khachanov (still to play in Washington today)
250: Casper Ruud

And there’s more: Ruud has now won 19 of his last 22 matches at Stade Roland Garros, where the Olympic Tennis Event is being held this year. He went 16-3 at the last three editions of the tournament Roland Garros (reaching back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023 and the semifinals in 2024) and is 3-0 so far at the Olympics this week.

Up next for Ruud will be Felix Auger-Aliassime, who pulled off a 6-3, 7-6 (5) upset over Daniil Medvedev earlier in the day.

And like Ruud, Auger-Aliassime also made history for his country, becoming the first Canadian tennis player ever, male or female, to reach the singles quarterfinals of the Olympics.

Auger-Aliassime's victory over the No. 5-ranked Medvedev was his 16th career win over a Top 10 player, and he’ll go for a 17th against the No. 9-ranked Ruud in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

Ruud leads the pair’s head-to-head, 3-2, though they’ve only played once since the start of 2023 and Auger-Aliassime won that one in straight sets, defeating the Norwegian, 6-4, 7-5, in the fourth round of the Masters 1000 clay-court event in Madrid this year.