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The second seed opened his campaign at the indoor hard-court ATP 250 with a 7-6(2), 6-4 win against the big-hitting Marin Cilic. After falling behind 1-4 in the opening set, Ruud found his rhythm with commanding serves and trademark movement to improve his season record in opening rounds to 14-3.

“It was a good match, I’m very happy,” said Ruud, who improved to 4-0 in his against Cilic. “Marin is a great player, very aggressive. He got a better start than me, so I just tried to get my form and rhythm back into the match. I’m really happy with the win.”

Despite his early deficit, Ruud soon took control from the baseline, combining precise groundstrokes with dominant serving to turn the match around. He held serve to love in four straight games in the first set and won all 12 first-serve points in the second.

Ruud’s one-hour, 50-minute triumph provided a boost to his bid to reach the ATP Finals for the fourth time. The 2022 runner-up at the season finale is 11th in the ATP Live Race To Turin. In the quarter-finals, he will face Sebastian Korda.

The 2019 Stockholm champion, Denis Shapovalov, averted a scare against wild card Leo Borg in front of a vibrant atmosphere inside the Royal Tennis Hall. The Canadian failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set, but eventually regrouped for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory.

Borg, the son of tennis legend Bjorn Borg, was aiming to record his third ATP Tour win, but he was unable to draw on the crowd support and contain Shapovalov in the decider. The third-seeded Canadian is into his fourth Stockholm quarter-final in five appearances at the ATP 250 and awaits Jacob Fearnley or Swedish wild card Elias Ymer.

Korda earlier overcame Kamil Majchrzak 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in a thrilling two-hour, 33-minute contest. 

The American dropped just four of 28 points on serve, in the final set to earn his 100th hard-court win, becoming the fifth player born in the 2000s to do so.

In first-round action, Lorenzo Sonego kickstarted his quest for a second indoor title by defeating British qualifier Arthur Fery 6-4, 6-2. 

Sonego set a second-round meeting with Aleksandar Kovecevic, who led eighth seed Camilo Ugo Carabelli 4-6, 7-5, 4-0 when the Argentine was forced to retire through injury.

Marton Fucsovics eased past Jesper de Jong 6-1, 6-2 to book a clash with top seed and 2022 Stockholm champion Holger Rune.