Ruud cruises into Barcelona final
● Norwegian third seed Casper Ruud defeated Argentina’s Tomas Etcheverry 7-6(6) 6-4 yesterday to book a spot in the Barcelona Open final.
The world No 6, who has not dropped a set so far as he cruised to his fourth final this season, is still seeking his first tour-level title since lifting the trophy in Estoril last April.
The pair were neck-and-neck in the first set on Barcelona’s clay until Ruud took his first chance to break for a 4-2 lead before Etcheverry, seeded 13th, returned the favour in the following game.
The Argentine saved two set points to take it to a tie-break — only to see Ruud clinch it, having saved one set point himself after a 76-minute set.
It was just as close in the second but Ruud proved too strong for Etcheverry, who was playing in his first ATP 500 semifinal. “Those three finals losses this year have been making me hungrier,” said Ruud.
“I’m gonna dream about it (clinching the title) tonight. Last week I put a bit too much pressure on myself. I play my best when I’m cool and don’t think too much about it out there. That’s what I did today.”
Before his defeat by Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo last week, Ruud lost finals in Los Cabos and Acapulco earlier this year. He will face either Tsitsipas or Dusan Lajovic in the final today.
Meanwhile, Spain’s former world No 1 and Wimbledon and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza announced her retirement at a news conference yesterday, making the extended break she had announced a year ago a permanent step.
Venezuelan-born Muguruza won the French Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017, and she reached the final of the Australian Open in 2020.
Last April she said she would take a break from competition to spend more time with her family.
“I didn’t miss the discipline and the difficulty of the life I had before. I have been realising that what I most want to look forward to is my next chapter, and not the tennis chapter,” she said in Madrid.
Muguruza, 30, was ranked No 1 in 2017 and was ranked as high as third by the end of 2021 when she won three WTA titles.