ATP Finals: Casper Ruud completes last-four line-up at ATP finals, setting up meeting with Daniil Medvedev
Casper Ruud completes last-four line-up at the ATP finals, setting up a meeting with holder Daniil Medvedev after defeating Andrey Rublev; Britain's Joe Salisbury makes it through to the last four in the doubles
Friday 19 November 2021 23:03, UK
Debutant Casper Ruud defied the odds to upset Andrey Rublev 2-6 7-5 7-6 (7-5) and set up a semi-final showdown with Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Finals in Turin on Friday.
The 22-year-old world No 8 came from a set down to take a deciding-set tie-break and secure a first career victory over Rublev at the fifth attempt, as well as a first win over a top-10 player on a hard court.
The first Norwegian to appear at the Finals, Ruud is now the first Scandinavian to reach the last four since Sweden's Robin Soderling in 2009.
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"It's tough, the court is playing very fast and Andrey rips the ball faster than anyone else," said Ruud in his on-court interview.
"It's not easy against him, he makes you run all the time so I had to fight fire with fire.
"Maybe he had the pressure on him in this match, he has beaten me four times and maybe he saw a good opportunity to reach the semi-finals."
Ruud won only 16 of his 32 service points as the set slipped away in 34 minutes.
But he retrieved an early break to prompt Rublev to hurl his racket to the floor, and then pounced on a weak service game to level the match.
A nip-and-tuck deciding set swung the way of Ruud in the tie-break when he gobbled up a poor second serve and then finished the job with an ace.
Cameron Norrie's stellar season ended with a chastening defeat by Novak Djokovic.
The British No 1 took on the world No 1 for the first time in a fitting end to the best year of his career.
Despite 50 match wins, a maiden ATP title at Indian Wells and a climb to 12th in the world, Norrie was left in no doubt about the gulf in class between Djokovic and those in the chasing pack following a 6-2 6-1 defeat.
Earlier, Britain's Joe Salisbury made it through to the last four in the doubles.
Salisbury and American partner Rajeev Ram beat Colombian duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-5 2-6 11-9 after a match tie-break in the deciding set.
Salisbury and Ram, the US Open champions, topped their group after three wins from three matches.
Salisbury will be the last Brit standing in Turin with second alternate Norrie unable to qualify in the singles and Jamie Murray, alongside Bruno Soares, out of the running in the doubles.
"Obviously it's great that we had three of us here playing, and hopefully we can keep it going and go all the way," Salisbury told Amazon Prime.
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Their victory earned a semi-final showdown with top-seeded Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic on Saturday.
"It will be another really tough match," he added. "We've had some close matches with them this year and if we play our best hopefully we'll come out on top."
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