Casper Ruud is in the US Open semifinals after defeating Matteo Berrettini and can become world number 1.
It was a walk in the park for Casper Ruud for 13 games, then it became hard work, but after 2:35 hours his 6: 1, 6: 4, 7: 6 (7: 4) victory over Matteo Berrettini was in the quarterfinals of the US Open.
The 23-year-old Norwegian French Open finalist still has the chance to say hello from the top of the world rankings next Monday. Virtually he is already number 2 behind Rafael Nadal. The only rival remaining in the tournament is Carlos Alcaraz, whom he could only meet in the final. “I don’t want to think too much about the number one,” said Ruud after the game.
Poor start from Berrettini
But from the beginning: Berrettini, after all number 14 in the world, got a cold start. 1: 6, 1: 5 from his point of view it was called after almost an hour. Ruud dominated the game at will. “I don’t think I’ve ever started a match so well,” said the four-time tournament winner on Swiss soil (twice each in Geneva and Gstaad).
After that, the 26-year-old Italian lived up to his reputation as a Wimbledon finalist in 2021 and a Melbourne semi-finalist in 2022. His race to catch up in the 2nd set came too late, but in the 3rd round he made it (also thanks to a double fault by Ruud) with a break and had two set points when the score was 5:2.
Ruud survives a tricky situation
But Ruud, who convinced with his powerful forehand, but also with a solid return game and versatile shots, fended them off with his own serve, took the next service game from the Italian and was back in the set. In the tie-break he managed a mini-break early on. He couldn’t let the lead take him away.
Ruud thus managed to take revenge for the defeat against Berrettini at the US Open 2020. Overall, it was his 4th victory in the 6th direct duel with the Italian. In his first US Open semi-final he meets Nick Kyrgios or Karen Chatschanov.
