Ruud Reaches Los Cabos Final With Impressive Performance Against Tsitsipas

| by Jordan Reynolds

Casper Ruud is into his first ATP final of the 2024 season after he knocked out the defending Los Cabos Open Champion Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The semifinal in Los Cabos was a very exciting matchup for an ATP 250 event between two Grand Slam finalists, but each player had made mixed starts to the season before this contest.

At the Australian Open, Tsitsipas was knocked out in the fourth round by Taylor Fritz, while Ruud exited a round earlier to Cameron Norrie, who shocked the three-time Grand Slam runner-up with his level.

Both players are on the Acapulco entry list for next week, and this 250 event also taking place in Mexico is the ideal preparation, although the Los Cabos Open is a big tournament in its own right.

Despite Ruud's immense class as a player, Tsitsipas came into the match as a slight favorite as the defending champion. A very strong performance was going to be needed for the Norwegian to win.

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Yet, Ruud asserted himself from the start of the semifinal in Mexico. Although the first six games went with serve, the two-time French Open runner-up was striking the ball more confidently than Tsitsipas from the beginning of the match.

Ruud got his reward in the seventh game of the opening set. Tsitsipas hit an inside-out forehand wide on the first break point he faced to hand his opponent the important advantage of a break of serve.

The Norwegian was utterly dominant on serve in the first set and easily closed out the set 6-4. Incredibly, Ruud won 100% of the points on his serve in set 1.

Ruud had to fight much harder in the second set. He did not create a single chance to break serve and had to face five break points himself. However, Ruud stood up to the challenge on all five occasions, and a tiebreak was needed to decide the set.

Tsitsipas, who is set to play the Eisenhower Cup alongside the likes of Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, crumbled somewhat in the tiebreak. He made errors at key moments, which allowed Ruud to take the tiebreak 7-4 and seal a terrific 6-4 7-6 semifinal victory.

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