Ruud and Schwartzman praise Buenos Aires crowd ahead of final showdown

Casper Ruud took down Federico Delbonis while Diego Schwartzman defeated Lorenzo Sonego in the semifinals of the Argentina Open.

The players will go against each other in the Argentina Open final and it will be a clash of former champions. Schwartzman is the defending champion as he won here last year and he will be excited about the prospect of winning back-to-back. After taking down Sonego, he said:

"I'm very happy to repeat the final one more time. I'm very confident here. Sometimes I have to run for three hours to win, but it doesn't matter. I just focus on the win and that's the important thing."

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Schwartzman will be in a very tough spot physically having played very long matches in the final two rounds. He explained:

"I have to [find the energy]. Now I have a few hours to rest, to eat and to be ready for tomorrow."

Ruud also had a tricky match against native Federico Delbonis. He also had to play against the Argentine crowd who was firmly behind their compatriot but respect Ruud as a former champion enough not to distract him. On his match, Ruud said:

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"I knew it would be a tough match against Delbonis, he always plays well on clay and [hits] heavy strokes. I think we play quite similarly and today I stepped up my game when I had to and played very solid throughout the whole match.”

On the crowd, Ruud said:

"For sure it could be a good experience to play against Diego here. It would be fun to experience the atmosphere. I think [the crowd] are cheering for the Argentinians of course, this is normal, but they are also fair to me and when we play good rallies they clap for both players."