Casper Ruud beats Jack Draper in Madrid Open closing to win his first Masters 1000 title

The previous second-ranked Ruud rallied from 5-3 down within the first set and sealed the victory after capitalizing on his lone break at 2-2 within the third.

The 26-year-old Ruud yelled and thrust each arms into the air after clinching the win on his first match level on the Caja Magica clay court docket.

“It’s been a very long time coming,” Ruud mentioned. “(This was) one of many actually massive objectives I dreamed about once I was younger, so it’s an unbelievable feeling to perform it. Additionally the best way I did it as we speak, it was an incredible match. I knew Jack had been taking part in unbelievable all yr, and particularly on this match, so I knew that if I didn’t convey my A-plus sport, I used to be going to be whooped across the court docket.”

The Fifteenth-ranked Ruud will return to the highest 10 due to his marketing campaign in Madrid, reaching No. 7 within the rankings on Monday.

“Fortunately, I performed very well,” Ruud mentioned. “Jack has turn out to be such an unbelievable participant, on any floor now … This can be a actually massive increase for me, and I want to hold it going.”

The 13-time tour champion is the primary Norwegian to elevate a Masters 1000 trophy for the reason that sequence was launched in 1990, in line with the ATP. It was Ruud’s third such closing after shedding to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo final yr and to Carlo Alcaraz in Miami in 2022.

Ruud has extra titles (12) on clay than every other participant for the reason that begin of 2020, in line with the ATP.

Draper gained at Indian Wells in March. After his quarterfinal victory in Madrid, he secured a top-five debut within the rankings.

Draper mentioned Ruud was “braver” than him in the important thing moments on Sunday.

“You deserve this,” he mentioned. “You’ve clearly put in a lot laborious work and consistently had superb years on the tour … This sport is brutal, however I believe this loss goes to make me higher, so I’ll hold making an attempt.”

The match in Madrid was disrupted early final week due to a serious blackout that introduced Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday, prompting the postponement of twenty-two matches in complete.

Ruud had wanted to take a few painkillers throughout his semifinal win over Francisco Cerundolo after feeling a rib ailment throughout his warmup, however there have been no indicators of any damage on Sunday.

Draper, who like Ruud had not misplaced a set on his strategy to the ultimate, served for the primary set at 5-4 however could not end it. The 23-year-old British participant was visibly upset, and saved speaking to himself and to his employees for some time in the course of the changeover.

The boys’s aspect of the draw misplaced most of its high gamers early. House-crowd favourite Carlos Alcaraz needed to withdraw from the match due to an damage, and Novak Djokovic misplaced to Matteo Arnaldi in his opening match.

High-ranked Aryna Sabalenka defeated Coco Gauff within the girls’s closing on Saturday.