Opposed respectively to Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner, the two best in the world, Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas were not necessarily the favorites for the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo, but it is nevertheless they who will face each other on Sunday for the victory of the Masters 1000. Tsitsipas, who dismissed Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, will try to become the fifth player in the Open era (since 1968) to win this trophy at least three times, after Ilie Nastase ( 3), Björn Borg (3), Thomas Muster (3) and Rafael Nadal (11). The Greek won on the Côte d’Azur in 2021 and 2022.
For his part, Ruud achieved a great first for him: he finally beat Djokovic (6-3, 1-6, 6-4), on his sixth attempt. He will play his second Masters 1000 final after the one lost in Miami on hard in 2022, in a tournament where his best result to date was the semi-final lost in 2021 against Andrey Rublev.
Not only had the Norwegian never beaten the Serb, but he had never even taken a single set from him in their five previous meetings, the last in the final of Roland-Garros last year. So the world No.10 savored: “I could only play very well, otherwise I knew it would have been impossible to win. I was lucky to win the first set, especially since I had never taken one from him until then,” commented the 25-year-old.
“Thanks to that, even after losing the second set I knew I could still win,” he explained. A three-time Grand Slam finalist (Roland-Garros 2022 and 2023, US Open 2023), Ruud was able to reverse the trend after losing the second set. Djokovic was obviously disappointed, especially since he has not yet reached any final this year.
“I’m used to having very high goals in terms of results, so the fact of not having won a title yet is not at all a good start to the season if we compare to the last fifteen years,” recognized the champion with 24 Grand Slam titles (record).
The opponent who awaits Ruud on Sunday was not expected at such a celebration either, he who had been struggling for over a year against the best and who had, on the other side of the net, the ogre from the start of the season in the person of Sinner. “I had to find a level that I hadn’t had for a long time on clay,” underlined the Greek, eliminated in the quarterfinals last year.
He had not beaten a player as highly ranked as the Italian on crushed brick since his victory against Daniil Medvedev (2nd) at Roland-Garros in 2021. And he has not played in a Masters 1000 final on this surface since Rome in 2022. “I am very proud of myself, I demonstrated great potential this week,” he assured, also referring to his round of 16 against Alexander Zverev (5th), whom he dismissed 7 -5, 7-6 (7/3) after being led 5-0 in the second set. On Saturday, he faced a player that only Carlos Alcaraz had managed to defeat so far this year, in the semi-final in Indian Wells.
