Stefanos Tsitipas set up a rematch with Casper Ruud in the Barcelona Open final by defeating Dusan Lajovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.
\nThe Greek beat world number six Ruud last week in the Monte Carlo Masters final, inflicting the Norwegian\u2019s third final defeat this year.
\nRuud, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, edged past Tomas Etcheverry 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 earlier on Saturday in the first semi-final to record his tour-leading 28th win of the season.
\nTsitsipas, seventh in the world rankings, battled back after a shaky first set and overpowered his Serbian opponent.
\n\u201cIt was not [easy] at all, he was fighting really hard, I wasn\u2019t very consistent,\u201d said Tsitsipas. \u201cThe more the match progressed I got deeper into the reasons of why I\u2019m not winning the games I need to win \u2014 I got really deep with myself and tried to escape that one-way route the match started at.\u201d
\nTsitsipas saved a break point to hold for 4-4 in the first set in which he committed several unforced errors, and Lajovic secured it when the Greek pushed a shot into the net.
\nHowever the 25-year-old broke decisively in the second set for a 4-3 lead and then dominated in the third set.
\n\u201cI delivered really different tennis and a much better version of myself in the second and third set,\u201d added Tsitsipas.
\nRuud triumphed in straight sets earlier but Etcheverry tested him.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been fantastic, two weeks has been really good, two finals in a row and it\u2019s gonna be special tomorrow, I\u2019m gonna play for the biggest title of my career,\u201d Ruud told Teledeporte.
\n\u201cIt was a difficult match, level-wise maybe it was my best match here in Barcelona, a very tough opponent, Tomas is playing fantastic tennis.
\n\u201cI was a bit lucky in the first set\u2026 but that\u2019s what you need sometimes, a bit of luck.\u201d
\nRuud lost two finals in Mexico and then against Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo but is enjoying a strong season.
\nThe players traded breaks in the first set, with Ruud\u2019s superb forehand winner earning him a 4-2 lead.
\nHowever Etcheverry broke back with Ruud slapping another forehand into the net and consolidated for 4-4. Ruud dropped two set points before eventually shading a tight tie-break.
\nIn the second set Ruud broke straight away but Etcheverry immediately hit back. The Norwegian broke again in the fifth game and served it out.
\nRuud wrapped up his win by converting the second of three match points when Etcheverry sent a return into the net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Stefanos Tsitipas set up a rematch with Casper Ruud in the Barcelona Open final by defeating Dusan Lajovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday. The Greek beat world number six Ruud last week in the Monte Carlo Masters final, inflicting the Norwegian\u2019s third final defeat this year. Ruud, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, edged past Tomas …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":63638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63639,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63630\/revisions\/63639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}