Casper Ruud is the champion at the
Barcelona Open after seeing off
Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 6-3 in their second final in two weeks after the Greek won at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
Ruud lost out last week after defeating Novak Djokovic in his greatest ever win to Tsitsipas in a poor final. But he put it right this week for his biggest title on clay after being a perennial winner at ATP 250 level.
He had never won a title above that level before despite his high status in the sport. But now had claimed one on the road towards Roland Garros with Madrid next week and Rome the week after. He sits at 29-7 for the year and showing his form he is third in the ATP Race now behind Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.
In the opening set, he lost his serve in the opening game. But he clawed it back at 3-3. The rest of the set went with serve until 6-5 when he broke for a 7-5 lead. It continued to go with serve into the second set until he went 3-1. He had break points to go 4-2 up, but spurned them but the one break counted as he romped to his first match point.
