Casper Ruud on Sunday joked that seven was his lucky number after claiming the most important trophy of his career in his seventh big final as he beat Jack Draper to win the Madrid Open.
The Norwegian, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, earned his first Masters 1000 triumph with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory over the Briton in a two-and-a-half-hour tussle at the Caja Magica.
Rising star Draper, who moved fifth in the world rankings above Novak Djokovic, was hoping to add to his Indian Wells title in March, but Ruud outlasted him in his third Masters final.
Photo: AFP
“This was my seventh big final if you count them all, so seven is a lucky number, I guess,” Ruud said. “So it was worth the wait in the end. I’ve never really been too close in any of the finals when I look back — I’ve lost the majority of them in straight sets.”
After his prior struggles on the big occasion, also losing in the 2022 ATP Finals showpiece to Djokovic, Ruud was grateful to triumph in the Spanish capital.
“It is a mix somewhat of a relief and happiness, and just pure joy,” he said. “I know, based on the last years that I’ve had on tour, how tough it is to do well at the biggest tournaments, and I’ve never been able to get over the finish line as a champion, but today I was able to.”
Draper had been looking for the first clay-court title of his career.
“Congratulations to Casper on this win, you really deserve it — you were braver than me in the key moments,” Draper said. “This sport is brutal, but I will keep trying, I think this loss will make me better.”
The 26-year-old Ruud, ranked 15th, blinked first with back-to-back double faults to give Draper a break for 2-1 in the first set.
However in a seventh-game hold the Norwegian upped his power and showed his quality, hinting at the fightback which was to follow.
Serving for the set Draper was unable to polish off his opponent, who broke to tie the set at 5-5.
Ruud held and then broke to claim the first set as Draper mishit a forehand. It was the first set Draper had dropped at the tournament and he ranted aloud to his team to release his frustration.
Draper’s tactic seemed to work as he produced his best tennis in a brilliant second set in which he made just one unforced error and let his rasping forehand shine.
Draper broke in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead, saved two break points in the eighth and then broke again himself to claim the second set, with his third set point.
In the decider, Draper saved three break points to hold in a hard-fought third game, which lasted more than 10 minutes.
Ruud broke in the fifth game and consolidated for a 4-2 lead, with his first title of this stature in sight after 12 ATP titles at 250 and 500 level.
The tiring Draper saved a break point in the seventh game despite being docked a first serve for a time violation, and Ruud held for 5-3 to leave Draper serving to stay in the match.
The 23-year-old found a second wind and held to love to make Ruud serve it out.
Despite never triumphing at this level, Ruud powered through his final service game, opening up three match points and taking the first, with Draper sending a reply into the stands to end it.
“I honestly feel like I’m at the start of my journey,” Draper said. “I’m going to keep on improving and keep on pushing hard, and keep these sort of tough moments in my head to keep on driving myself to be better.”
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Shuttler Lin Chun-yi yesterday kept Taiwan on the board as they faced their first major challenge of the group stage after marching into the last eight at the Sudirman Cup Finals in Xiamen, China. Taiwan were losing 3-1 to South Korea as of press time last night, with only the men’s doubles match remaining. Taiwan and four-time champions South Korea have already progressed to the quarter-finals, after Taiwan on Monday blanked the Czech Republic 5-0 without giving up a single game. Before last night’s tie, Taiwan were undefeated in Group B, with a 9-1 match record, ahead of South Korea, who, although also
A man fell from the 6.4m-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh during Wednesday night’s game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. Right after Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run double in the seventh inning to put the Pirates ahead 4-3, players began waving frantically for medical personnel and pointing to the man, who had fallen onto the warning track. The fan was tended to for approximately five minutes by members of both the Pirates and Cubs training staffs as well as PNC personnel before being removed from the field on a cart. The team issued a statement shortly