Casper Ruud will play Alex de Minaur in the final of the Mexican Open in Acapulco after defeating Holger Rune in three sets.
Both players came into this semifinal after hard-fought quarterfinal matches. Rune won in two tight sets against Dominik Koepfer. He needed two tiebreaks to overcome his German opponent.
The Norwegian won an even closer contest to set up this semifinal. Ruud overcame Ben Shelton in an exciting three-set battle. He prevailed despite losing the opening set on a very close tiebreak.
The matchup between Ruud and Rune has added interest due to their history. This includes heated battles in the 2022 and 2023 French Open quarterfinals, which were both won by Ruud.
The crowd was packed for what they hoped would be an entertaining new installment of this rivalry. Fortunately, the two players did not disappoint.
Rune came out of the blocks very quickly. He immediately used the drop shot to great effect to counter Ruud's deep court position. That craftiness helped him break Ruud's serve in the second game of the match to seize the advantage.
Although that was the only break in the first set, Rune continued to look more comfortable and play better tennis. The Dane took the opening set 6-3, and Ruud had work to do to impose his game.
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up was more aggressive on return in the second set, and it worked. That change in strategy seemed to disrupt the entirety of Rune's game, even when he was returning.
Some great returns gave Ruud the crucial break in the fourth set. Rune was not able to recover from that setback, and Ruud took the set 6-3 to take the match to a decider.
Rune was struggling physically in the hot and humid conditions in Acapulco by the end of the second set. It seemed like he might wilt quickly, but the Dane found some big hitting to save a break point in the opening game of the set.
Incredible drama then started from the fourth game of the set. Rune broke with a scarcely believable forehand winner off a Ruud smash. However, he then immediately gave up that advantage to allow Ruud to break straight back.
The next two games were identical. Rune was going for broke due to his deteriorating physical state and rushed the Norwegian into errors to break again. But he relinquished the break immediately once again, in what was a fourth consecutive break of serve.
Rune's physical difficulties were becoming even more evident, and he ran out of steam in the final three games. He initially saved two breaks in his next service game, but could not stop Ruud breaking with his third chance.
Ruud duly served out the match to seal a grueling and compelling 3-6 6-3 6-4 win, and leave him one victory away from a first ATP 500 title.
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