Casper Ruud edges closer to Jannik Sinner mark with biggest title of his career
At last, Casper Ruud has banished the theory that he cannot get over the winning line when it really matters.
The Norwegian has achieved so much in his career, with three appearances in Grand Slam finals and a rise to No 2 in the ATP Rankings.
Yet his trophy collection was sparse after a succession of near misses in finals… until now.
On a glorious Sunday afternoon for Ruud, he broke Stefanos Tsitsipas’ winning streak after clinching the Barcelona Open final in straight sets.
He won 7-5 6-3 to lift his first ATP Tour trophy of the season while snapping Tsitsipas’ 10-match run of victories in the process.
Ruud also denied the Greek the chance to claim back-to-back titles after he beat the Norwegian in Monte Carlo, but the former believes victory in Barcelona has been a “long time coming”.
“Honestly, this has been worth the wait. A lot of finals that I’ve lost have been tough, a bit disappointing, of course,” Ruud told the ATP.
“Any time you reach a final, it’s nonetheless a good week, so you can’t be too hard on yourself, but this one has been a long time coming.
“I’m super happy to do it here in Barcelona in front of a packed stadium and on Rafa Nadal Court. It’s special to me because I looked up to him all my childhood, came here myself as a 13-year-old boy to watch him and the others play here. It’s a great feeling.”
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Ruud got off to a poor start as Tsitsipas earned an early break, but the Norwegian recomposed himself and sealed the opening set with a break in the 12th game before taking the upper hand in the second set to wrap up victory.
Ruud added: “It was a bit of a tricky start, got broken right away. So not the best start, but I managed to settle in and broke him back. Clutched up and broke him in the end of the first, which was huge.
“It’s been two long weeks for both of us. It’s obvious that at some point fatigue is going to kick in. I think we were both fit enough to play today, it’s not about that, but winning the first set was huge probably for either of us.”
This victory cemented Ruud position at No 6 in the ATP Rankings and moved him up to No 3 in the ATP Race, which charts ranking points for this calendar year.
Only Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have collected more ranking points than Ruud in 2024, with the match win statistics for this year also making for good reading for the new Barcelona Open champion.
Sinner’s impressive year has included title wins at the Australian Open, Rotterdam Open and Miami Open, with the Italian notching up 25 wins from his 27 matches played this year.
Second of that list is Ruud, who has now won 24 matches from a hectic tournament schedule that has seen him play 31 times so far since the turn of the year.
Grigor Dimirtov has 22 wins this year and is in third place on this list, with Alex De Minaur collecting 20 wins in his stellar run of form.
By contrast, world No 1 Novak Djokovic has just nine wins in 2024 from his 12 matches in regular tour events, with these statistics not including matches in the United Cup and Davis Cup team events.
