Rublev Unseats Defending Bastad Champ Cerundolo, Sets Ruud Final

Andrey Rublev
Andrey Rublev (photo: Brigitte Urban)

BASTAD/WASHINGTON, July 22 2023 (by Michael Dickens)

It’s not often that an ATP 250 event has four Top 20 players competing in the semifinals. Yet, on this sunny but windy Saturday afternoon in the summer Swedish resort town of Bastad, a sold-out crowd was treated to back-to-back matches of mighty fine world-class tennis.

The Nordea Open semifinal lineup featured World No. 4 Casper Ruud of Norway in the opener against No. 16 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy. It was followed by World No. 7 Andrey Rublev of Russia battling against defending champion and 20th-ranked Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina.

By the end of the afternoon, Sunday’s title-match contestants were settled – Ruud and Rublev – and the 5,000 fans who filled the Tenisstadion to capacity seemed happy and satisfied by the results. After all, two of the tournament’s fan favorites will be going after the Bastad crown.

Rublev overcame Cerundolo after an exciting if not exhausting two hours and 47 minutes, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 6-3, to advance against Ruud and to put him in contention for his second ATP Tour title of the season following his earlier success in April in capturing the Masters 1000 crown at Monte-Carlo. It also means Rublev is through to his fifth ATP Tour final of the season, tied by second best with Daniil Medvedev and one behind recent Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz.

After a pair of sets that were closely decided by the narrowest of margins by tiebreakers, Rublev broke the Argentine’s serve twice in the final set to win and improve his season win-loss record to 37-14. He closed out the victory with a backhand winner off Cerundolo’s serve on his second match-point opportunity.

Rublev finished the semifinal with nine aces, a 77-percent success on winning points on his first serve, saved 10 of 11 break points he faced, broke Cerundolo three times in nine tries, and outpointed his opponent 126-119.

This week, Rublev is attempting to win his 14th career title on Tour. Four of his previous titles have been on clay. It’s a surface the Moscow native has succeeded on but the summertime Bastad conditions have meant overcoming obstacles, too.

“I think it was really, really tough conditions to play,” Rublev said in his post-match interview on court. He looked both tired and relieved. “It was really windy and it was tough to look into the sun. By the end of the second set, we managed to play a really good level. Francisco played amazing points in the tie-break and at the end of the second set. The third set came down to just a few points. He had break points, I had break points. In the end, I was more lucky.”

As for facing Ruud in the final, Rublev, who leads their career head-to-head 4-2 but has lost the last two meetings, said: “It’s going to be a crazy match. It’s going to be really tough. Last time, he beat me. We are good friends. I hope it’s going to be one more great match.”

Meanwhile, in the opener, Ruud reached his third tour-level final of the season with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over No. 3 seed Musetti that lasted an hour and 46 minutes. It advanced the popular 24-year-old, who was playing in front of many family and friends, into his third title match of the season. While Ruud hasn’t dropped a set all tournament, the loss ended a nice run this week by the young Italian Musetti at Bastad, who is still in search of his first title of the year after triumphing at Hamburg and Naples last season.

All week, Ruud, who was born in Oslo and resides in Snarøya Baerum, Norway, has felt a sense of home crowd support from the Bastad fans and throughout Scandinavia.

“For sure, I have many family members, a lot of friends and a lot of Norwegians are here,” said Ruud during his on-court interview, before he signed autographs and took selfies with many fans toting the now-familiar oversized fluffy tennis balls seen at all ATP Tour stops. “It’s great to play almost at home. This is the closest tourament to where I was born and where I live. So, it’s feels great to be playing here in front of the Scandinavian fans.”

The top-seeded Norwegian, who won the Bastad title two years ago, broke through Musetti’s defenses first by relying on heavy topspin returns and consolidated it with a solid down-the-line forehand winner for an insurmountable 5-2 lead in the first set. A game later, he closed out the 43-minute stanza at 6-3 after Musetti netted a one-fisted backhand that halted a four-shot tussle.

Then, at 5-all in the second set, Ruud gained his second break after the 21-year-old Musetti sent a ninth-shot cross-court forehand wide. He wasted little time by closing out the win with his fifth ace after Musetti saved two match points. Ruud now owns a 20-6 win-loss record on clay and nine of his 10 ATP Tour titles have come on red dirt.

“I’m very happy with the win, obviously,” Ruud said. “Tough conditions once again. Was a tough second set, a long one. I’m very happy I got the break and was able to serve it out in the end. It was a bit tricky, but I’m happy with my performance and my level.”

Around the Nordea Open

Sunday’s doubles final will pair a couple of unseeded duos, each whom battled past seeded teams to reach the title match. Francisco Cabral of Portugal and Rafael Matos of Brazil, who earlier this week knocked off top seeds Fabrice Martin of France and Andrea Mies of Germany in the quarterfinals and followed it with a straight-set win over Austrian No. 3 seeds Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler, will oppose Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador and Aleksandr Nedovyesov of Kazakhstan. Escobar and Nedovyesov advanced to the final by defeating No. 4 seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori, both of Italy, in Friday’s semifinal round.

Matos won last year’s title teamed with Spain’s David Vega Hernandez.

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