After Casper Ruud storms back, Andrey Rublev goes out to Daniel Altmaier in Hamburg

Last weekend, No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev beat No. 1 seed Casper Ruud for the Bastad crown.

The pair of Top 10 competitors traveled together to Germany, where they held the same seedings at this week's Hamburg European Open. By Thursday however, a chance of a friendly final replay coming together was dashed.

Daniel Altmaier sunk Rublev, 6-2, 6-2, to earn his second Top 10 win of the season following his five-set victory over world No. 9 Jannik Sinner in the second round of Roland Garros. The German broke Rublev twice in each set and held in all of his service games to send the seventh-ranked wild card packing after 75 minutes.

All but one of Altmaier’s 10 tour-level wins this season have come on red dirt. In May, he advanced to his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Madrid. On the ATP Challenger Tour, the 24-year-old triumphed on green clay in Sarasota to get himself back in the Top 100. A win in the quarterfinals would all but cement Altmaier’s Top 50 debut.

Rublev had staved off three match points in his opening match with Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Earlier, Ruud looked out of sorts against Cristian Garin before storming back to post a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Garin had won both of their prior clay-court meetings and knocked out the Norwegian earlier this season at Indian Wells. But after the three-time major finalist broke for 3-2 and consolidated in the second set, the match was all his.

"I had no answers, but just tried to stay in there in the second set and told myself to keep going, maybe I will get a chance," Ruud said afterwards. "At 2-2 I was able to break him on my first break point and things started to change."

Ruud is seeking his first trophy above the 250 level this week. Since opening 2023 at 5-6, the world No. 4 has gone 21-8, picking up his 10th career title in Estoril and finishing runner-up at Roland Garros for a second straight year along the way.

The Oslo native has contested finals at every level except the 500 stage. Ruud can move within a win of doing so here if he advances past Arthur Fils. The 19-year-old topped Dusan Lajovic, 7-5, 7-5, for his fourth quarterfinal showing of the year and first outside of France. In May, Fils celebrated his maiden ATP crown in Lyon with a final-round win over Francisco Cerundolo.