By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday November 15, 2024

And then there were four.

Casper Ruud nabbed the final semifinal spot at this year’s ATP Finals and ended Andrey Rublev’s season with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 victory in the final round robin match of group play in Turin.

Ruud, who improves to 3-5 against Rublev, has now defeated the Russian three times at the ATP Finals, in 2021, 2022 and 2024. He has never beaten Rublev at any other venue. 



It has been quite the turnaround for the three-time major champion from Oslo. He had not reached an ATP semifinal since Roland-Garros, and entered this week’s event having lost eight of his last nine matches.

“Tennis is interesting sometimes,” Ruud said after finishing 2-1 in group play with a win over Carlos Alcaraz as well as today's triumph over Rublev. “I don’t know what I’m doing better this week than the last weeks – maybe the only thing I can really feel is serving, I’m serving really good so hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow I’m going to need it.”

He certainly will.

The 25-year-old Norwegian, seeded sixth, will have to recover quickly and get ready for the ultimate challenge on Saturday. He will face Top-seeded Jannik Sinner in the semifinals, while No.2-seeded Alexander Zverev will take on American Taylor Fritz.

Ruud locked up his spot in the semifinals by taking the first set, but he didn’t pack it in from there. He overcame a push from Rublev in the middle set by dominating the decider, breaking Rublev’s serve twice and winning 12 of the final 15 points as he reached the semifinals at the ATP Finals for a third time.

By doing so Ruud has become the third player to advance to the final four in his first three Nitto ATP Finals appearances this century, joining Roger Federer (2002-07) and Stan Wawrinka (2013-15).

“It’s obviously tough to play all the best players in the world but it’s also nice because you feel sometimes that you are an underdog, you can play free. You know that if you don’t bring your A-plus level you are going to most likely lose.”

Along with the Swiss duo, Ruud is the eighth player in history to achieve the feat of reaching the semifinals in each of his first three Nitto ATP Finals appearances, along with Carlos Moya, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas, Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase.

Sinner leads the head-to-head with Ruud 2-0, but the pair have not met since 2021. The Italian has breezed through group play, winning all six sets he has contested. 



“There’s no doubt, at least in my mind, that he’s the best player in the world all year,” Ruud said. “Deservedly being year-end No.1. He’s playing at home and hasn’t dropped a set all week. He’s definitely the player to beat this year.

“It seems like this guy almost forgot how to lose so I’m going to see if I can come up with something that might challenge him tomorrow.”

Fritz leads Zverev in the head-to-head 6-5, including wins at Wimbledon, the US Open and Laver Cup since July.