Casper Ruud will pay in another
Roland Garros (French Open) final as the Norwegian defeated
Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-4 6-0 to set up a clash against
Novak Djokovic.
Casper Ruud hasn't had the best of years tennis-wise but slowly the Norwegian worked himself in good shape and he's found a really solid level in Paris in the past two weeks. A great performance against Zverev allowed him to advance to another Roland Garros final after he played in it last year.
Ruud has two grand slam finals so far losing both and it's not going to get any easier. He will face Novak Djokovic in the final, a player he never beat before having a 0-4 record overall. If he keeps playing well he will certainly have a chance to try and prove himself though he will need to bring some of that tennis he showed against Zverev.
The German didn't really play a great match and it was hugely disappointing. He missed a lot of balls but Ruud was also ready for much of what Zverev tried to do. Due to that, Zverev opted to be more aggressive and attack more but he couldn't keep a very high level most of the time. The German had more unforced errors than winners and that's not the way to win the match against Ruud, especially when he himself had the opposite - more winners and fewer errors.
The serve didn't prove a huge advantage either so there was very little that Zverev could do. He never hit the level he had last year and last year's one could have certainly beat Ruud but this year's wasn't good enough. The final is on Sunday so don't miss it. Ruud will try and beat Djokovic for the first time in his career. No harder way than doing that in the final of the grand slam but the reward would be worth it.