No. 8 seed Ruud withdraws from Australian Open with ankle injury

Eighth-seeded Casper Ruud has been forced to withdraw from his first-round match at the Australian Open because of an ankle injury.

The Norwegian player was in the same quarter of the draw as Stefanos Tsitsipas. Ruud twisted his ankle in practice two days before the tournament began.

“I hoped that I would be able to recover and be able to step on court today with the two days that I had, but rolling an ankle usually maybe needs some more time." Ruud said. “I tried everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately I’ve decided that I’m not ready.”

He was replaced in the draw by Roman Safiulin, a so-called lucky loser from qualifying who will now face Slovakian Alex Molcan in the opening round.