Stefanos Tsitsipas swept apart Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to win the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters for the third time in 4 years, after which wept in his chair.
Tsitsipas sat holding his head in his arms, briefly crying as he took in his first title of the yr and largest event victory for 2 years.
“I’m very pleased with myself right now. I had been ready for a second like this for a very long time,” mentioned the Twelfth-ranked Tsitsipas, who reached a career-high No. 3 rating in 2021. “I didn’t know what was going to occur this week.”
The massive-serving Greek additionally gained the title in 2021 and 2022 and this newest trophy on the Monte Carlo Nation Membership took him to 11 profession titles total.
“It has been very troublesome, so to be again on the rostrum, successful tournaments, simply feels wonderful,” Tsitsipas mentioned. “The third time is much more particular than the primary or second time. That is an unbelievable win for me. Capturing that win right now was nerve-wracking, I actually needed this trinity.”
It was his first trophy since August final yr, when he gained a modest ATP 250-level event on outside laborious courts at Los Cabos in Mexico.
This was way more prestigious and he shared a heat hug on the internet with Ruud, who’s chasing his first title of the yr and stays caught on 10 total.
The match featured former French Open runner-ups and supplied an early indication of kind heading into the clay-court main at subsequent month’s Roland Garros.
Tsitsipas was an outsider coming into this event, the place he was seeded Twelfth.
However he received the higher of Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner within the semifinals, handing him solely his second defeat of the season to arrange a maybe sudden ultimate in opposition to Ruud, who beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s different semi.
Tsitsipas took an early management.
He broke Ruud’s serve and held for 3-1, then secured one other break of serve when eighth-seeded Ruud flapped a unfastened forehand into the online from the again of the court docket. A nervous-looking Ruud double-faulted on set level.
Ruud improved within the second set and pressured Tsitsipas, who saved three break factors and took 13 minutes to carry serve in a troublesome seventh sport.
That appeared to be Ruud’s final likelihood whereas additionally summing up his erratic match, the place he made too many unforced errors and didn’t convert any of his eight break-point probabilities.
Tsitsipas hit an ace to win his subsequent service sport, leaving Ruud needing to carry serve to remain within the match.
An unforced error at 30-30 noticed Ruud patting a straightforward-looking backhand lengthy to supply Tsitsipas a primary match level.
He seized the second.
Tsitsipas dominated a short rally and clinched victory with a forehand winner, then slid on his again together with his arms outstretched and put his arms on his face.
“I managed the purpose comparatively properly and completed it with the winner,” Tsitsipas mentioned. “I confirmed some ruthless tennis. From the start to the tip, my play was cohesive.”
Tsitsipas will enhance to No. 7 when the ATP rankings are launched on Monday.
[AP]
