Miami, Ruud eliminates Cerundolo. First final in a Masters 1000

Casper Ruud is the first finalist of the Miami Masters 1000. The Norwegian overcame Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in an hour and 34 minutes of play for 6-4 6-1 and on Sunday he awaits the winner of the second semifinal, that of tonight between the defending champion Hubert Hurkacz and the Spanish teenager. Carlos Alcaraz.

The match

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The cold break from Casper Ruud in the opening game does not upset the Norwegian champion too much. Cerundolo misses the ball 2-0 and Ruud places the counter-break. The tenth game decides the first set: an empty pass by the Argentine who sinks 0-40 with a double foul. Cerundolo saves the first of the three set points, but capitulates on the second occasion. In the opening of the second set Ruud saves the break point granted with a double fault, then he misses two to go up 2-0 and in the third game he is the one to save two before pulling himself forward 2-1. It is the last delicate moment of the match: Ruud goes wide and with a final partial of 5 games to zero puts an end to the challenge. For Ruud it is the first final in a Masters 1000, the tenth in his career. The balance of the 9 finals played is 7 successes and 2 lost finals. Ruud won the titles in Buenos Aires 2020, Geneva, Bastad, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and San Diego 2021 and Buenos Aires 2022. Second in Houston 2019 overtaken by Cristian Garin and in Santiago 2020 beaten by Thiago Seyboth Wild. With the final in Miami Ruud is sure to improve his world ranking by one place from number 8 to number 7 in the world with just 5 points ahead of Andrey Rublev.