2024 Monte-Carlo Masters FINAL PREVIEW as clay specialists Stefanos TSITSIPAS and Casper RUUD duel after shock wins

Stefanos Tsitsipas will face Casper Ruud in search of his third Monte-Carlo Masters title. The final of the first clay Masters 1000 will feature two 'surprises', after they respectively eliminated the two main favorites, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

The Greek did not have a good start to the year in important tournaments, with just a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open, round of 16 at Indian Wells, and a defeat in the opening match of the Miami Open, which caused him to lose a good amount of points that dropped him out of the top-10. However, with the start of the clay swing, Tsitsipas seems to have found his form again.

Along the way, he defeated Laslo Djere (No. 34), Tomas Martin Etcheverry (No. 31), Alexander Zverev (No. 5), Karen Khachanov (No. 17), and Jannik Sinner. He only dropped a set against the Italian and handed him his second defeat of the season to the world No. 2, who seemed unstoppable with a record of 25-1 in 2024. This is Tsitsipas's 7th Masters final and third in Monte-Carlo, where he won his only two Masters 1000 titles.

The title showdown will not be easy against an inspired Casper Ruud, who comes off achieving the most important victory of his career by defeating the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic for the first time. The head-to-head was 0-5, and he had never even taken a set from Nole, in addition, the Norwegian was 0-11 against top-3 players (and 0-25 in sets in those matches).

In a dream week for the 3-time Grand Slam finalist, he achieved good victories against Alejandro Tabilo (No. 45), Hubert Hurkacz (No. 8), Ugo Humbert (No. 15), and Djokovic. Ruud will play his second Masters 1000 final (the first was a defeat against Alcaraz in the 2022 Miami Open) and ensured finishing the tournament as world No. 6 regardless of the result in the final.

The head-to-head between Ruud and Tsitsipas favors the Norwegian 2-1, and their only clay encounter was a victory for Ruud back in the 2021 Madrid Open.