Ruud, Draper All Set For A Madrid Title Showdown

Casper Ruud, Madrid
Casper Ruud (photo: Mutua Madrid Open)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, May 2, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Casper Ruud will long remember his 124th victory on clay since the start of the 2020 season – most on the ATP Tour – not only because it lifted him into his 25th career tour-level final at the Mutua Madrid Open, which ties him with Dominic Thiem for most clay finals among players born in 1990 or later with 18.

What the World No. 15 Ruud from Norway is likely to remember about his 6-4, 7-5 victory over World No. 20 Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, which he completed in an hour and 54 minutes Friday afternoon on Manolo Santana Stadium, is that he fended off his opponent through his ability to excel with class under pressure and, just as impressive, did so after receiving treatment on his rib from the physio after just three games into the Madrid semifinal.

Playing in his second Madrid semifinal – and first in four years – the No. 14 seed Ruud saved 15 of 18 break points against Cerundolo –including surviving seven break points at 2-all during a 20-point fifth game and three more at 5-all in the second set – and reached his third ATP Masters 1000 title match following Miami in 2022 and last year at Monte-Carlo. Both resulted in losses, to Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas, respectively.

Next up, Ruud will face World No. 6 Jack Draper of Great Britain in the final. The British No. 1 fought past World No. 11 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in an hour and 57 minutes in the second semifinal Friday evening

By defeating the 20th-seeded Cerundolo, who will rise to World No. 18 in next week’s PIF ATP Rankings, Ruud has become the first man born in the 1990s to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final this season, a season that has been dominated by younger players such as the 23-year-old Draper and 19-year-old Jakub Mensik, who were born in the 2000s. The victory by Ruud also assured that he will return to the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings after a two-week respite. He improved his lifetime win-loss record against Cerundolo to 4-5, breaking a two-match losing streak, and has won their last three meetings on clay.

Meanwhile, Cerundolo, who is tied with Alcaraz and Alex de Minaur for most wins on the ATP Tour this season with 24, was denied a chance at his 25th triumph. He will have to wait until next week at Rome.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to finish the match, honestly,” Ruud said during his post-match interview on court with ATP Media. “I felt something in my rib during the warm up, just towards the end before going out [on court], and I felt it in nearly every shot, especially the serve. Luckily, I got some quick treatment on it. There’s not too much you can do; you only have three minutes [with the physio]. So I will go and check it out more now.”

Ruud added: “I got a couple of painkillers, which is not the ideal thing, but at the same time in a situation like this, you have to do that now and then. I was able to just play one game at a time really. It was easing and getting better as the match went on.”

Both players finished even with 75 points. Ruud won 10 more points on his serve – 48 to 38 – while Cerundolo won 10 more return points than Ruud, 37-27. Ruud converted five of nine break points, while Cerundolo managed to break on just three of 18 occasions. Ruud finished with 17 winners to 26 unforced errors, while Cerundolo countered with 28 winners but also made 27 unforced errors.

In Sunday evening’s title match, Ruud will face the fifth-seeded Draper of Great Britain, who fought past No. 10 seed Musetti, in a high quality semifinal. His 20th winner of the semifinal was a blistering forehand passing shot that zoomed by the Italian and landed just inside the back of the court on match point during the second-set tie-break. Draper outpointed Musetti 78-68.

Draper, who won 78 percent of his first-serve points, finished with 20 winners – including 10 from his backhand side – and 19 unforced errors, compared to 22 winners and 25 unforced errors by Musetti. Draper converted two of six break-point chances and saved two of three he faced. He outpointed Musetti 78-68.

“I felt like both of us, our quality didn’t really drop from the first ball,” Draper said during his on-court interview with ATP Media after improving to 4-0 lifetime against Musetti. “Credit to Lorenzo, he’s obviously playing so good on the clay. I played him on hard and on grass when we were juniors, growing up with him. But on clay, he’s a different beast, so to get this win on this court in this stage, semifinals, it means so much to me.”

Looking ahead to Sunday, it will be Ruud’s first meeting against Draper, who will be going after his second ATP Masters 1000 crown of the season after winning his first one at Indian Wells in March.

Around the Caja Mágica

While much of the focus Friday was on the men’s singles semifinals on Manolo Santana Stadium, nearby on Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, the men’s doubles semifinals took place.

In one semifinal, No. 1 seeds Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia, who are co-ranked No. 1 and have already won two ATP Masters 1000 titles this season – at Indian Wells and Miami, and were also semifinalists in Monte-Carlo – took on unseeded team, Americans Christian Harrison and Evan King, who have won titles this year at Dallas and Acapulco.

By the end of the one-hour, 42-minute tussle, the Salvadoran/Croatian duo survived with a come-from-behind 6-7 (8), 7-5, 10-6 victory.

In the other semifinal, 2021 Madrid champs and this year’s No. 5 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, who upset No. 2 seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Henry Patten of Great Britain in the quarterfinals Thursday and earlier this season won titles in Phoenix and Bucharest, defeated No. 3 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany, who were finalists this season at both Adelaide and Munich, 7-6 (6), 7-5 in an hour and 44 minutes.

The Spanish/Argentine pair will be bidding for their seventh career ATP Masters 1000 title in the Saturday afternoon final.

By the numbers 

There have been three Italian men who have been finalists in an ATP Masters 1000 clay event since the series began in 1990. They are: Fabio Fognini 1 (2019 Monte-Carlo), Matteo Berrettini 1 (2021 Madrid), Lorenzo Musetti 1 (2025 Monte-Carlo).

“Quotable …”

“There’s no denying I think that in any professional sport, but especially in tennis it’s so relentless, we’re playing, we’re competing, we’re away from our families, we’re just sacrificing our lives. I think if you do this sport properly as well and give it everything every day, you know, it’s tough. I doubt myself every day that, you know, can I keep going, can I keep going, can I keep going, but, you know, I do.

“So, I guess if you want to be great then these are the things you have to do. … There’s much harder work out there, you know, putting things in perspective. I do a sport I love, I get to travel with amazing people, earn good money. And, you know, it is really, really mentally challenging, physically challenging, but I think, yeah, I kind of, I enjoy that.

– World No. 6 Jack Draper of Great Britain, during his post-match news conference on Wednesday after defeating Tommy Paul, asked about making personal sacrifices in order to be the best in his sport.

 

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