Casper Ruud is into his 20th ATP Final of his career after defeating Holger Rune in an all-Scandinavian battle in Acapulco on Friday night 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. But it is a first ATP 500 final of his career surprisingly given the level he has reached before with three Grand Slam finals, 1 ATP Finals Final, an ATP Masters final and of course various ATP 250 finals and wins.
Ruud led the head to head against Rune 5-1 coming into the match, but it was their first ever meeting on a hard court. Rune started superb though not only taking the first set but having break point at 1-1 in the second set.
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Rune had leads in the third even after that though going 3-1 up and 4-2 up including nearly going one away from there. He won the last four games of the match and sealed the win after two hours and 23 minutes.
But Ruud kept fighting and like he said post match, he was like an insect. “Kind of like a cockroach, you know, not going anywhere, just creeping back in,” Ruud said in his on-court interview.
Next up is Alex de Minaur who advanced to the final after Jack Draper again had to deal with issues albeit not injury, but instead a stomach ailment. De Minaur beat Ruud in their only previous tour level match, but that was back in 2019. So both have become vastly better players since that point.
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Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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