PARIS. – Eighth seed Casper Ruud battled past teenager Holger Rune 6-1 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the French Open semifinals and become the first Norwegian to reach this stage in any Grand Slam.
He will play Croatian 20th seed Marin Cilic in the semifinal.
“Of course, a lot of nerves all day to get going. It’s tough to find calm and peace,” Ruud said. “I started great, but Holger fought back and raised his level.”
“I had played him three times already, now fourth, I guess I know a little bit how he plays.
He plays fearless, goes for big shots.”
“It’s a big day for Norwegian tennis,” Ruud said. “I will use tomorrow to prepare. These matches are the ones you are dreaming about playing.”
The 23-year-old quickly raced to a 5-0 lead, twice breaking the teenager in the process and blitzing him with sensational cross-court forehand winners, clinching the first set after 34 minutes.
In his first French Open appearance, Rune, who had dumped out fourth seed and last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas in the previous round, was left shaking his head at his opponent’s faultless performance, looking towards his box for advice as his unforced errors started to accumulate.
Rune, who had lost all three previous encounters to Ruud in straight sets, quickly changed tactics, playing three consecutive drop shots while also charging to the net to move 1-0 up.
In women’s play, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek shook off some early nerves to extend her winning series to a staggering 33 as she beat American Jessica Pegula 6-3 6-2 to book her spot in the semis.
Swiatek, who turned 21 on Tuesday, is on the longest unbeaten run in the women’s tour since Serena Williams bagged 34 victories in succession in 2013.
The Polish player, gunning for a second title in three years at Roland Garros, appeared a tad shaky in the initial games before marching past the 11th seed to set up a meeting with Russian Daria Kasatkina for a place in Saturday’s final. — Reuters
