In August, when Casper Ruud reluctantly bade farewell to clay courts for the season after winning three consecutive titles on the red stuff, there was much merriment around the idea of the Norwegian switching surfaces. Even Ruud saw the funny side. “Hard courts”, the Norwegian self-mockingly signed a TV camera in Toronto. Three months on, no one is laughing. Certainly not Andrey Rublev, the heavy-hitting Russian whose hard-court credentials include quarter-final appearances at both the Australian and US Opens.
On Friday, Rublev faced Ruud at the ATP Finals in Turin with a semi-final place on the line. For a set, all went as scripted. Rublev was the aggressor, dominating the baseline exchanges and serving with such authority that he conceded just four points on his delivery. Ruud, meanwhile, was strangely passive, a bystander at his own execution, seemingly overwhelmed by the desire and intensity of his fired-up opponent.
When Rublev broke early in the second set, the match seemed to be as good as over. But then, with Rublev leading 2-1, 40-15, strange things started to happen. The Russian sent a backhand long. Ruud found the middle of the racket with a blazing crosscourt forehand. Deuce. Rublev’s brow furrowed. A huge forehand from the Russian clipped the top of the net and went wide. Break point. Cue more brow-furrowing. Ruud cracked an inside-out forehand return, Rublev pushed a backhand long, and the Russian slammed his racket into the ground. Ruud, who had lost all four of his previous meetings with Rublev, was on his way.
“I think in the moment I got tight, which is normal,” said Rublev, who went on to suffer a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) defeat. “Casper played well. I didn’t make one first serve. Second, because I was tight, I wasn’t serving too well. He returned really aggressive with the forehand a couple of times, and I couldn’t do anything. When I lost my serve, I got a bit down because I felt that I was controlling the match, I was controlling everything. Now we have to restart.”
Restart they did, but on altered terms. As Ruud put it later, he recognised the need to fight fire with fire, and so he moved inside the baseline, smoking forehands, denying Rublev time, making it more difficult for the Russian to find his backhand. Rublev’s frustration increased, and in the twelfth game Ruud broke to level the match. From there, it was all about who could hold their nerve and take whatever opportunities came their way. It was desperately close. There was an early exchange of breaks in the decider, and at 5-5 Ruud found himself in danger on serve again. He met the challenge head on, wrong-footing Rublev with his umpteenth forehand winner to save a break point, and showed similar aggression to close out the climactic tiebreak, sealing the contest with an ace.
“It was quite a way to finish a match,” said Ruud, who will play Daniil Medvedev in the last four. “I think the tiebreak was probably some of the best tennis we played because there were some rallies, some good winners. In the end to be able to serve an ace was a relief, because you are a little bit tight and nervous on these big points.”
There was no such drama for Novak Djokovic, who brushed aside Britain’s Cameron Norrie 6-2, 6-1 in the evening session. Djokovic, who has yet to drop a set at the event, will face Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals.
“It’s going to be big challenge,” said Djokovic, who will draw level with Roger Federer should he win a sixth title. “Sascha is one of the best servers in the game. He’s been playing really good tennis. He’s had arguably the best season of his career, winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games. He’s just played on a very high level throughout the entire year.
“Indoors, he is definitely [among the] top two, three players that we have. With the big serve, good movement, he’s equally good at playing in defence and offence. I know that it’s going to be a battle both physical and mental. But I’m ready for it. I didn’t spend too much time today on the court. We all want to finish the year in the best possible way. Let’s see what happens.”