Casper Ruud explains how he changed things up to beat Matteo Berrettini in Gstaad final

ATP Tour
Casper Ruud post-match celebrations

Casper Ruud had to produce a big comeback and also had some luck go his way to defeat Matteo Berrettini and retain his Swiss Open Gstaad title.

The top seed came off second best in the opening set as Berrettini dominated, but he turned things around to secure a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 victory in two hours and 34 minutes for his ninth ATP Tour title.

Second seed Berrettini broke in game five of the opening set, but he was made to hold onto the advantage as he saved three break points in the next game before serving the set out.

Ruud was up against it in game three of the second set as the Italian had a 15-40 lead, but he fought back and saved another break point in game nine.

After going down an early mini-break in the tie-breaker, everything fell the Norwegian’s way and he took it to a third set.

The momentum was firmly with Ruud as he broke in games three and five of the decider to set up the win.

“I changed [things] up a little bit in the third set especially, which helped,” Ruud said. “The games and the points go by here fast. If you are not ready and focused, you can get broken or you can break, because the conditions allow you to.

“So it was key for me to hold my serve, I did that in the second set. Saving those break points was very important for me and everything went in my favour in the tie-break. So that was a bit fortunate. I just tried to keep that momentum going in the third set and I was able to get a break and play better and better throughout the third set.”

Casper Ruud Matteo Berrettini

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