Casper Ruud is in the Grand Slam final for the first time after beating Cilic
23-year-old Casper Ruud turns the Paris semi-final against Marin Cilic, ten years his senior, and is now celebrating his Grand Slam final premiere against Rafael Nadal.
the essentials in brief
- Rafael Nadal’s French Open final opponent in 2022 is Casper Ruud (23).
- The Norwegian prevailed against Marin Cilic (33) 3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 2 and 6: 2.
Two weeks after his tournament victory in Geneva, Casper Ruud is also playing for the title at the French Open. The Norwegian sand specialist is thus setting new standards: So far, reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open 2021 was his best Grand Slam result.
The 23-year-old can handle the pressure in his first major semi-final well. With an increase run, he secures the final duel against his role model Rafael Nadal, in whose academy the Norwegian once trained.
Hardened Marin Cilic wins starting set
Casper Ruud gets the clearly better start to the game: The Norwegian gets his first three service games easily and is good at serve Cilic. Nevertheless, everything stays in line up to 3:3. Then the Croatian, who is ten years his senior, suddenly gets a break.
After two more close games, the set is over: The more experienced Marin Cilic wins multiple points and lands the starting set 6:3.
Casper Ruud shows nerves of steel
But in the second set, the attacking Croatian suddenly made more mistakes. This is how Ruud manages to break to 2:1. He then holds up to 5:4, where he is suddenly 0:40 behind.
However, the 23-year-old shows impressive maturity and turns the game around with strong serves and victories to win the set. The momentum has now changed completely: Ruud immediately secures the first two games in the third set.
Activist on the field causes interruption
Marin Cilic (33) seems completely insecure – as in the second set, he throws up a bunch of smashes in a few moments. This uncertainty leads to the next rupture. When the score is 4:1 there is an interruption because an activist runs onto the field and chains herself to the net.
After the interruption, Ruud is a little off the role for a short time. But he catches himself again and secures the set in an impressive manner with 6:2.
The Norwegian is also unstoppable in the next game – Cilic lets himself be broken. With another break and good serve games, Ruud brings the win to dry ground.
Milestone for Ruud and Tennis Norway
Casper Ruud has already won 8 tournaments, including in Gstaad and twice in Geneva. Nevertheless, this victory is the one with the greatest margin of his young career. The 23-year-old is the first Norwegian in tennis history to reach a Grand Slam final.
Who are you crossing your fingers for in the 2022 French Open final?
For Ruud it is the twelfth final in an ATP tournament – for the tenth time on clay. For comparison: For final opponent Rafael Nadal it is the fourteenth final participation – alone in this tournament.
Despite the disappointment in the semifinals, the defeated Marin Cilic (33) can look back on a successful tournament. The world number 23 from Croatia set a personal best result in Roland Garros this year.
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