Norway’s Casper Ruud pushed through a rib injury to reach the Madrid Open final, defeating Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 7-5 in a convincing straight-sets victory.
Ruud had already won against top players Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev. During the semifinal match, he needed medical help early on, but he remained strong and resilient, saving 15 of 18 breakpoints. With his determination, he made it to his third Masters 1000 final, where he will be up against fifth seed Jack Draper. Draper also advanced to the final with a straight-sets victory, defeating Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6(4). This will be his third final match of the year.
After his semifinal win, Ruud said: “I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish the match, honestly. I felt something in my rib during the warm-up, just towards the end before going out (on court).”
The athlete added: “I felt it in nearly every shot, especially the serve. Luckily, I got some quick treatment on it. There’s not too much you can do, you only have three minutes (with the physio). So I will go and check it out more now.”
Ruud also shared that he took a couple of painkillers to ease his rib pain, and he started feeling better as the match went on. He stated that the adrenaline helped him despite the discomfort.
“Hopefully it’s nothing too bad, it was quite sharp… Not an ideal start, but I managed to keep it together and play some really good tennis when I had to,” Ruud remarked.
Ruud will be playing his 18th clay-court final, which shows he excels on this surface. Among current athletes, only Novak Djokovic has reached 34 clay finals.
A social media post shared by ATP Tour stated: “FINAL BOUND 🎟️@casperruud is through to his third Masters 1000 final after a 6-4 7-5 win over Cerundolo!”
Netizens commented on the post and said: “Perfect combination of grit and patience🔥”, “Great great great Ruud🎉🎉🎉💪🏻💪🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🥰”, “LETS GO CASPEER!!👏🏻👏🏻🩷🩷🩷”, and “Yes ! Congrats! You’re bound to win…this one is yours”
Meanwhile, Draper’s strong run in Madrid will propel him into the top five of the world rankings, a big achievement in his career. After winning his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells earlier this season, he now has his sights set on winning another in Madrid. The athlete said about his opponent: “Casper is such an experienced player. Someone who’s made Grand Slam finals… two on the clay at Roland Garros. I have to bring my A game for sure.”