Tstisipas and Ruud repeat the Monte Carlo final in Barcelona

The most anticipated final in the absence of Carlos Alcarazy Rafael Nadal It can be seen this Sunday at the RCT Barcelona headquarters (4:00 p.m.). Stefanos Tsitsipas y Casper Ruud They will repeat the final played a week ago at the Monte Carlo Masters 1,000 that the Greek tennis player won. Tsitsipas suffered to get rid of Dusan Lajovic by 5-7, 4-6 and 6-2, while Ruud he got rid of the Argentine Tomas Etcheverry by 7-6 (6) and 6-4.

For a few moments the worried faces in the box of the central Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer, tournament director, seemed to fear the worst when Lajovic scored the first set against Tsitsipas. The Serbian tennis player, 33 years old and 59th in the world, a disciple of Josep Perlas, He entered the court ready to win a prize that he had never achieved before in his career in which he has only won one title in his career (Umag, 2019).

A tough test

Posted at the back of the court, safe from blows and taking advantage of Tsitsipas’ half-speed start, pressured to return to his fourth final and the possibility of winning the title and doing the double with Monte Carlo, the Serbian put him to the test for more of an hour until the Greek achieved the first break to go ahead 4-3 in the second set. The day before Tsitsipas had already suffered to avoid elimination with two match balls against the Argentine Facundo Díaz-Acosta in a match decided in the tie break lottery.

“Everything was too logical. “I have had to change my game and do everything differently,” he explained. Tsitsipascalmer at the end of the game. The Greek was more aggressive. His father and his mother in the stands did not stop giving him messages and he began to beat the hell out of them. Lajovic, with heavy, fast balls, which the Serbian found difficult to return and hold on to. Thus the Greek scored in the second set and in the third and final set he no longer gave any option, giving up only two games after 2 hours and 10 minutes of battle.

Tsitsipas, seventh world championship, arrives at the final perhaps more tired than Ruud. In their confrontations they are tied 2-2, after the Greek’s victory in Monte Carlo (6-1, 6-4). Both have also been finalists at Roland Garros. ”It’s going to be harder than in Monte Carlo. I will have to be very focused to defeat him,” said Tsitsipas.

Ruud, released

Ruud fulfilled the prediction to be in his first final in Barcelona and fourth of the season after those played this year in Los Cabos (where he beat Tsitsipas in the semifinals), Acapulco and Monte Carlo, although without being able to win any of the three. The Norwegian tennis player reaches the final without having lost a set.

Etcheverry complicated the first set in which the Argentine had three set balls before giving it up. Two at 6-5 and 15-40 and another in the tie break at 6-5, when Etcheverry sent the volley into the net. “I was a little lucky at that time,” acknowledged the Norwegian tennis player.

The situation saved, Ruud He won three points in a row and, later in the second set, he broke Etcheverry twice (1-0 and 3-2) to take enough advantage on the scoreboard to win and reach his second consecutive final after Monte Carlo. “Fantastic,” he said on the track, excited to win. “the biggest title of my career”.

Final without Spaniards

For the first time in 10 years, since 2014, when the Japanese Kei Nishikori won his first title in Barcelona against the Colombian Santiago Giraldo, there will not be a Spanish finalist in the tournament. Not only that. This Sunday’s final will be the fourth without Spanish presence since the one in which the Austrian played Thomas Muster and the Chilean Marcelo Rios in 1996. The following year Albert Costa won the title to start a streak in which Spanish tennis players have won 19 titles out of a possible 25.

A dozen of those wins are for Rafael Nadal (2005-09, 2011-13,2016-18 and 2021), two Carlos Alcaraz (2022-23) and one Felix Mantilla (2009), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2001), Carlos Moya (2003), Tommy Robredo (2004) y Fernando Verdasco (2010).

2024-04-20 17:22:20
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