JAKARTA - Casper Ruud managed to beat host player Luciano Darderi to reach the final round at the 2026 Italian Open, which was his first final in the tournament held in the city of Rome.
The Norwegian secured his ticket to the final of this Masters 1000 tournament with a landslide victory in two sets 6-1, 6-1 over Darderi in the semi-final match in Rome on Friday local time or Saturday, May 16, 2026 Indonesian time. The match was delayed for one hour and 59 minutes due to heavy rain.
"It feels amazing. I feel a little sorry for Luciano who played at home, but didn't have his best energy. But that's understandable because he finished playing at 2.30am a few days ago," said Ruud, quoted by the ATP's official website.
The victory saw Ruud break a semi-final curse in Rome after previously failing to make it to the final three times. This result also brought the 27-year-old one step closer to his second Masters 1000 title after winning the Madrid Open last year.
Sukses' success in defeating Darderi makes Ruud the sixth active player to reach the final in all the Masters 1000 clay court tournaments. In addition to the finals in Italy and winning Madrid, he also reached the Monte-Carlo final in 2024.
Ruud said that one of the keys to his victory in this match was that he had a much longer recovery time after passing the quarterfinals, unlike his opponent who had to play the phase until dawn.
"In addition, this is my 10th Masters 1000 semifinal, while for him it is the first. So, I tried to use that experience and I think I played very well today," he said.
Ruud is likely to face a major challenge in the final as he could potentially meet world number one Jannik Sinner, who has recorded 32 consecutive wins at the ATP Masters 1000 level.
Sinner is currently trying to get past Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals. The Italian is ahead, but their match was temporarily postponed due to rainy weather.
Ruud was knocked out of the top 20 of the ATP rankings after being eliminated in the Madrid quarterfinal last April. However, the latest results in Rome have made him rise to 17th place in the Live Rankings and are sure to return to the top 20 next week.
On the other hand, Darderi managed to record an impressive tournament in front of his own public. On the way to the semifinals, he was recorded to eliminate Alexander Zverev in the fourth round, which was his first victory over a top 10 world player.
He then continued his slick performance with a three-set victory over Spanish player Rafael Jodar in the quarterfinals. However, after spending a total of nine hours on the court in the previous four matches, Darderi's energy seemed to be exhausted when facing Ruud.
Ruud was dominant from the start of the match at Campo Centrale. His forehand was many times the main weapon to control the rally and put him ahead 4-1 in just 24 minutes before the match was stopped due to rain.
After the match resumed almost two hours later, Ruud remained aggressive and closed the first set 6-1. He then raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set before finally securing a two-set victory to secure a ticket to the final.
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