Roland Garros, Ruud beats Cilic and reaches Nadal in the final

To challenge Rafael Nadal on Sunday, with the title of Roland Garros, will be the Norwegian Casper Ruud, 23 years old and number 8 in the world, who in the second semifinal overcame in four sets (3-6 6-4 6-2 6- 2 in 2 hours and 55 minutes) the Croatian Marin Cilic who is exactly 10 years older, 33. Ruud took more time to take measures against his rival, struggling to contain Cilic’s deadly long-line blows. The Croatian started with the same enthusiasm with which he had finished the quarterfinal match against Rublev. After the first two games won to zero by the player at bat, in the fourth game the first break points arrived in favor of the Norwegian, propitiated by a double fault by Cilic. The Croatian canceled the first chance with a first winner and the second with the serve-forehand combination. In the seventh game, however, Ruud lost his mind, made two free mistakes when leaving the service and suffered the break. The Croatian conceded the ball for the counter break but canceled it at the net and then, after the ace, held the serve for the 5-3. Pushing like a madman, Cilic made a new break and closed the fraction 6-3.

The invasion

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But from the start of the second set Cilic appeared tired and more firm on his legs. He was no longer able to find the answer and, after having suffered the break in the third game, he missed the 4 occasions to be able to recover the disadvantage: one at 2-1 and three, much more precious and consecutive, at 5-4 0- 40 with Ruud at the service to close the set. Here the Norwegian, with great class and courage, pulled out 5 winners coming out of the hole and equalizing the set count. Ruud flew forward 4-0 to the third, at 4-1 a demonstrator entered the field and tied a rope between her neck and the net. On the shirt the words “We have 1028 days left”. The girl, named Alizee, 22, is part of the “Derniere Renovation” movement, in favor of energy renewal. After 15 minutes the game resumed, Ruud came quietly to serve for the set and closed the fraction at the third set point after having canceled a break point. The Norwegian flew ahead with a break even at the beginning of the fourth set and at 5-2 he served for the match. Here he smashed, then after Cilic’s free kick he scored a forehand sweep and finally closed with the 16th ace of the match.

First Norwegian final

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For Ruud it will be the first Grand Slam final of his career (first Norwegian in history in a Grand Slam final) which hits the fifth participation in Roland Garros. A result that launches him in sixth place in the world ranking. For Cilic the last great lost chance of his career to reach the final at Roland Garros. If he had hit it he would have been the 19th player in tennis history to boast presence in all four Grand Slam finals. The 18 players capable of reaching all the Slam finals remain Jean Borotra (1928), Jack Crawford (1933), Fred Perry (1935), Don Budge (1938), Frank Sedgman (1952), Ken Rosewall (1955), Lew Hoad ( 1956), Rod Laver (1962), Roy Emerson (1964), Fred Stolle (1965), Ivan Lendl (1986), Stefan Edberg (1991), Jim Courier (1993), Andre Agassi (1999), Roger Federer (2006) , Rafael Nadal (2010), Novak Djokovic (2012) and Andy Murray (2016).