Ruud Powers into Buenos Aires Final
Casper Ruud has settled in quickly on the clay in 2022.
The World No. 8 produced a clinical display to defeat home hope Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-3 in the semi-finals of the Argentina Open on Saturday. The top seed won through in one hours, 39 minutes to improve his match record in Buenos Aires to 8-0.
Ruud and Delbonis were tied 1-1 in their ATP Head2Head series prior to the match, but Ruud has come a long way since he lost their first encounter in Sao Paulo in 2017, now the holder of six tour-level titles.
[FOLLOW ACTION]After an early exchange of breaks in the first set, Ruud broke again for 5-3 as his strong hitting from the baseline overwhelmed Delbonis.
Delbonis had reached the semi-finals in Buenos Aires in 2018 but never looked likely to better than run as the Norwegian remained business-like throughout. The home crowd did their best to lift the Argentine but Ruud showed no let-up as he won 72 per cent (44/61) points behind his first serve.
Ruud will take on either second seed Diego Schwartzman or third seed Lorenzo Sonego in Sunday’s final. The Norwegian has never lost to Italian Sonego in three previous meetings but trails home favourite Schwartzman 5-2 in their ATP Head2Head series.