Casper Ruud booked his place in the Barcelona Open final with a 7-6(6) 6-4 win over Tomas Martin Etcheverry – and then looked forward to the chance to win “the biggest title” of his career.
On Sunday, Ruud will be hoping to end a sobering run which has seen him lose his last seven finals at tournaments above ATP 250 level.
However, he has started the 2024 season in impressive fashion and this victory takes his record to four wins and one defeat from five semi-finals this year – and he could face Stefanos Tsitsipas in a final for the second week running after losing to the Greek in Monte Carlo.
“It’s been fantastic, two weeks has been really good, two finals in a row and it’s gonna be special tomorrow, I’m gonna play for the biggest title of my career,” Ruud told Teledeporte.
“It was a difficult match, level-wise maybe it was my best match here in Barcelona, a very tough opponent, Tomas is playing fantastic tennis.
“I was a bit lucky in the first set… but that’s what you need sometimes, a bit of luck.”
Ruud took a keenly-contested opening set lasting one hour and 16 minutes after prevailing via a tie-break, with Etcheverry proving a very tough nut to crack.
The Argentine was showing few chinks in his armour until Ruud managed to get the opening break at 4-2, but could not follow that up with a hold in an immediate break back for the world No. 30.
Ruud was looking to finally move clear at 6-5, but let two set points slip to give Etcheverry a crucial hold at 6-6 before his resistance was ended.
The world No. 6 drew blood after set point number four in a gruelling opener, and followed that up with an early break in the second to seize the advantage.
But this topsy-turvy set looked to be following a familiar pattern to the first, as Etcheverry broke back again at 1-1.
However, the contest decisively swung in Ruud’s favour when he emphatically broke Etcheverry to love at 3-2.
From there onwards, the Norwegian wrapped up the match with relative comfort, taking it on his second match point.
He will now face the winner from the semi-final between Tsitsipas and Dusan Lajovic in Sunday’s final, with a potential chance to exact quick revenge on the Greek.