Casper Ruud had failed to win more than one match at any of his six previous tournaments this seasonCasper Ruud beat Miomir Kecmanovic on Sunday to win the Estoril Open and claim his first title of the year.
The world number five won five straight games in the first set before Serb Kecmanovic, ranked 40th in the world, took Ruud to a tie-break in the second.
But the 24-year-old Norwegian held on to win 6-1 7-6 (7-3) in Portugal and halt his poor start to the year.
Before this week, last year's French Open and US Open runner-up had won just five of his 11 games in 2023.
However, Ruud's 10th career title will be enough to push him back up to fourth in the ATP rankings on Monday.
