Very nervous and a little lost in the immensity of Arthur Ashe, yet not yet filled with its 23,800 daily spectators, the 23-year-old Frenchman missed his meeting during the first two sets, committing a lot of mistakes. direct.
Frustration quickly won over him.
It first manifested itself in a rather unusual way, when he did a series of push-ups, as if to punish himself - and perhaps re-motivate himself - after a point lost at the start of the second set.
Less funny, he angrily sent two balls in quick succession into the stands, just before the loss of the round, logically receiving a penalty point, after having received a warning a little earlier for the same infraction.
There was better in the third set.
Led 4-2, he finally had a start, breaking and then pushing Ruud to the decisive game.
A tie-break during which he regained consistency, also taking advantage of the feverishness of his opponent, author of a double fault on the set point of the French.
Ruud then managed to regain control of the match by taking Moutet's serve to lead 3-1, not without immediately having to erase two break points.
An advantage that he knew how to keep solidly afterwards.
The 23-year-old Norwegian, who reaches the quarters for the first time at Flushing Meadows, will face the Italian Matteo Berrettini (14th), won 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 4-6 , 6-2 in a big showdown against the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (39th).
© 2022 AFP