Who is in the best shape ahead of the French Open? The Rome tournament knows its semi-finalists

The Italian Open is one of the ATP 1000 events and is a very prestigious event. The tournament in Rome culminates a week before the start of the second Grand Slam of the year and is thus a very good test of the current form of the best tennis players in the world. Both semi-finals were played on Saturday.

The duel of the North

The first semi-final match pitted Nora Ruud and Dane Rune against each other. Although Casper Ruud won all their encounters, Holger Rune was the slight favourite for Saturday’s clash given his current form. The younger of the two tennis players celebrated his defending triumph in Munich a month ago. In Rome, he also enjoyed a win over Novak Djokovic.

The Norwegian, on the other hand, has not had a very successful year and has not been able to break into the top eight at any of the major events this year.

He also took advantage of a more favourable draw at the Italian Open, his most challenging opponent so far was the Argentine Cerundolo, a player ranked fourth in the world.

The first set went without a break, although the Norwegian had three break points in the sixth game. Ruud dominated the tiebreak from the start, winning the opening five balls. The opening set was decorated with his first serve. The world number four recorded seven aces and nearly 80% of the balls won after the first serve.

The second set brought a break from Ruud at 3: 2, Rune requested a break for treatment and his chances of winning at that point were not great. But the beauty of tennis is that until you win the last ball, it’s not over. The 20-year-old Dane began to attack, especially from the forehand and almost always successfully. He turned the number of winning shots, the second set and most importantly the whole match on his side. After winning 6::7, 6::4, 6::2, he will play his third clay final in four tournaments.

Russia-Greece duel

World number three Daniil Medvedev challenged Greek Tsitsipas, who is ranked fifth in the ATP rankings, in the second semi-final match. The list of their mutual matches already counts twelve entries, more often than not the Russian has walked away as the winner, however, for the last two years the Greek tennis player has been more successful at 3:1.

He hasn’t lost a set in Rome this year and played the final here last year. He was no match for Djokovic then, but he can’t meet him now. When else should he triumph here but this year, one would like to say.

Stefanos Tsitsipas got off to the worst start he could. He lost his serve. He managed to get back into the set, levelled at 4:4 and then the rain took over. After the break, the Russian took the set in the end and won 7: 5. The match was interrupted once more due to rain, stretching the match to five hours.

In situations like this, it is essential to keep your concentration and Daniil Medvedev did that better on Saturday. The second set actually followed the template of the previous one and the Moscow native won it for himself again at 7:5.

After the match he confirmed his good mental state. Despite the fact that he warmed up six or seven times during the break only to learn that the match would still not continue due to rain, he reacted with laughter.

So it’s been raining good luck for Daniil Medvedev in the Eternal City this year. He’s never won a match here before and now he has a final against Rune. There he can win his fifth tournament triumph of the year. What’s more, if he beats the Dane, he will leapfrog Novak Djokovic in the rankings and become world number two.

Sources: ATP, Eurosport