Casper Ruud (no 8) will play his first Grand Slam final on Sunday at Roland-Garros.
Double winner out of the Geneva Open, the Norwegian won 3-6 6-4 6-2 6-2 ahead of the Croatian Marin Cilic (no 20) in the second semi-final.
Casper Ruud will therefore tackle what is still one of the biggest challenges in men’s tennis. In the final, he will face the King of clay, Rafael Nadal (no 5), who is aiming for a 14th title at Roland-Garros and a 22nd in Grand Slam.
The 23-year-old Norwegian, who has never faced the Mallorcan left-hander on the circuit before, will have nothing to lose, as the saying goes. He will have to achieve the perfect match, playing attacking tennis, to hope to become the first player to beat Rafael Nadal in the Porte d’Auteuil final.
Casper Ruud will in any case approach the first major meeting of his career in full confidence, on the strength of his ten straight victories. On Friday, he dominated the proceedings following the loss of the first set. Even the interruption caused by the intrusion of an environmental activist on the court in the third set did not disturb his forward march.
/ATS
