Published on : 03/06/2022 – 22:19Modified : 03/06/2022 – 22:26
Casper Ruud qualified for the first time in his career for a Grand Slam tournament final on Friday. In the semi-final, at Roland-Garros, the Norwegian beat the Croatian Marin Cilic in four sets (3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-2). He will face Rafael Nadal in the final on June 5.
A regular and a newcomer: this is the program for the final of the 2022 Roland-Garros tournament, scheduled for Sunday June 5. The regular is, of course, Rafael Nadal, qualified at the expense of Alexander Zverev. And the new kid will not be Carlos Alcaraz, at the top of the list of favorites but released in the quarter-finals. No, it’s another member of the Top 10, more and more comfortable in recent months, who will be there: Casper Ruud.
Opposed to Marin Cilic, Friday June 3, in the second semi-final of the Parisian Grand Slam, the world No. 8 took his time. At first timid, he was dominated by the solid Croatian during the first set. A small relative blow when we see that Casper Ruud, 23, has won only one match in three sets out of his five games played in this fortnight. After this first set, the native of Oslo found his rhythm, and his opponent could not stop him.
The first Norwegian in the Roland-Garros final
Thanks in particular to an efficient serve and an increasingly sharp quality of return, Casper Ruud very quickly took the Croatian’s serve in the second set, to race in the lead and not let go of this advantage. The difference was even more glaring in the third set, where Marin Cilic was broken twice. The world No. 23, brilliant in the previous rounds against the Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, did not find the formula to respond to the Norwegian’s challenge.
The fifteen-minute interruption of the match, due to an activist who invited herself onto the court and attached herself to the net during the third set, only delayed the inevitable. Undisturbed, Casper Ruud resumed his forward march and quickly concluded this round. And in the fourth, he did not flinch, confident and sure of his tennis. Marin Cilic couldn’t do anything to challenge him for victory.
Finalist of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open – where he won in 2014 – the Croatian will therefore not play in his first final at Roland-Garros, unlike Casper Ruud, who had never passed the stage of the round of 16 in the Grand Slam tournaments. He is the first Norwegian to reach this level in Paris.
And, for the first time in his career, Casper Ruud will cross paths with Rafael Nadal, the absolute master of clay. Can he prevent him from winning a 14th cup for the Musketeers? Answer Sunday, June 5 Porte d’Auteuil.