ROME — Denmark’s Holger Rune staged a remarkable comeback to secure a spot in the Italian Open final after defeating Norway’s Casper Ruud in a thrilling three-set match.
Despite being a set and a break down, the 20-year-old Dane overhauled his opponent, who had previously reached the French Open final and had two semi-finals appearances in Rome.
Rune, who caused a major upset by eliminating top seed Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, displayed resilience and determination on the court.
Rune improved to 7-1 in his career 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. “You need it against those players.”
Medvedev beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-5 in a match that was suspended for a total of nearly 4 ½ hours due to rain over two separate stoppages late in the first set.
The seventh-ranked 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.”
“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.”
The fourth-ranked Ruud, who is from Norway, reached the final last year at Roland Garros, losing to Rafael Nadal, who announced recentlythat he won´t be competing in Paris because of a hip injury that has sidelined him since January.
The semi-final 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.
They 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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