Rune follows up win over Djokovic by beating Ruud to reach Italian Open final

Denmark's Holger Rune celebrates after winning a semi final match against Norway's Casper Ruud at the Italian Open tennis tournament in Rome, Italy, Saturday, May 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

ROME (AP) — Holger Rune followed up his latest victory over Novak Djokovic with another impressive performance to reach the Italian Open final, rallying past Casper Ruud 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.

Rune was down a set and a break before he overcame Ruud, who had won all four of their previous meetings.

“It’s crazy. I really played some of my best tennis, especially the last two matches, first against Novak and then against Casper,” Rune said. “Two so difficult players to play, so I had to find my best tennis. And I actually didn’t find it today, only at the end, and that was why I turned it around.”

Rune has reached his third clay-court final this season. The 20-year-old Dane was beaten by Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo and won Munich.

“He plays very fearless, takes the ball early, which is really impressive to do on clay,” Ruud said. “It’s not very typical to sort of do too well on clay because you have some wrong bounces. … A couple times I played heavy, he just went on the rise, hit the clean winner back.”

In the final, Rune will face Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniil Medvedev, whose semifinal was suspended for the second time due to rain with Tsitsipas ahead 5-4 on serve in the opening set. The match had already been suspended for nearly three hours at 4-4.

Later, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina was scheduled to play Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine in the women’s final.

Rome is the last big tournament before the French Open starts next weekend, and Rune and Ruud are shaping up as contenders.

The seventh-ranked Rune was coming off a win over six-time Rome champion Djokovic in the quarterfinals — his second victory against him in little more than six months.

The fourth-ranked Ruud, who is from Norway, reached the final last year at Roland Garros, losing to Rafael Nadal, who announced on Thursday that he won’t be competing in Paris because of a hip injury that has sidelined him since January.

Rune improved to 7-1 against players ranked in the top five.

“I play some of my best tennis when I play the top guys of the world,” Rune said. “It’s a good time to play your best tennis because you need it against those players.”

The match was filled with memorable points, starting when Ruud ran down a drop shot and replied with a delicate but sharply angled winner in the second game.

Rune was ready the next time Ruud attempted the same shot and ran down a seemingly impossible ball outside the doubles alley, sending Ruud back toward the baseline before eventually finishing off the point with a volley winner. Rune waved his hands to urge on roars from the crowd.

After dropping his serve midway through the second set, Rune took a medical timeout to have his right shoulder treated. When play resumed, Rune took control, producing an 83 mph (134 kph) forehand return winner off a first serve as he broke to take the second set.

At the start of the third, Rune whipped another forehand cross-court after he was pulled off the court.

Under constant pressure due to Rune’s court coverage and foot speed, Ruud double-faulted to hand Rune a break early in the third and never recovered.

The match was played in overcast conditions under intermittent rain.

“There were some great rallies. It was a fun match to play,” Ruud said. “Also, I think the crowd enjoyed it.”

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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf

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