You won’t believe the one Rome feat Casper Ruud has that no ATP star can touch

Casper Ruud made his way into his first-ever Italian Open final, easing past Luciano Darderi in front of the home crowd.

The Norwegian came through in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, to reach the final of the ATP Masters 1000 event.

Ruud has looked strong throughout the tournament, having lost only one set on his way to the final, and that was against Karen Khachanov in the quarter-finals.

His opponent in the final will be decided between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev. Their semi-final was interrupted on Friday night because of rain.

With this win, Ruud has accomplished something no one else on the ATP Tour can claim right now.

Ruud is in yet another clay-court Masters 1000 final

Opta Ace notes that Ruud is now the only player in men’s tennis to reach a final at a clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event in each of the past three seasons.

In addition to his 2025 appearance in Rome, he also reached the Monte-Carlo final in 2024 and Madrid Open final in 2023.

Despite his consistency on clay, Ruud has only one Masters title to his name, which he won at the Madrid Open last year — still his only title at this level so far.

The Norwegian will now get another shot at lifting a second Masters trophy and adding to his tally of 15 career titles as he builds form ahead of Roland Garros.

Casper Ruud shares his thoughts on Italian Open conditions

After booking his spot in the final, Ruud spoke about the differences between Rome and other stops on the clay calendar.

“Obviously, these two tournaments back-to-back are quite long because they’re played over the total amount of a month or four weeks. We know that now.

“Honestly, the first days I was not feeling the ball great. I was feeling quite tired because the rallies here are a bit different than in Madrid. In Madrid you get much more free points with your serve. The big servers really can take use of that. But here you have to build and play more points.

“I was thinking if I feel a bit tired or feel these conditions, the opponent probably feels the same. So we are all in the same situation.

“I got off to a good start in the tournament and built some confidence from there. I think the match with Lehecka that I won in third round was building momentum and confidence for me. From there, I’ve been trying to focus on the things that went well there and keep it going, improve even more if I can.

“Every day I felt a bit better and better. The couple of sets against Khachanov and today are some of the best I felt on court in a long time. So that’s a good feeling.”

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