Mexican Open: Ruud overcomes Rune to set up final against De Minaur

Casper Ruud, the No 6 seed, moved into the final of the Mexican Open by edging out Dane Holger Rune, the second seed, at the Princess Mundo Imperial Resort in Acapulco on Friday.

The Norwegian fought back form 4-2 40-15 down in the final set to eventually triumph 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 16 minutes to reach his first final at the ATP 500 Series level.

The win was also his sixth over Rune in seven career meetings. The Norwegian has won 10 ATP singles titles but all of them have come at the ATP 250 level. If he wins on Saturday, it will be the biggest title of his career so far.

The Norwegian defeated American Chris Eubanks (6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3), Serb Dusan Lajovic (6-4, 7-5) and American Ben Shelton (6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Acapulco tournament.

Ruud, ranked No 11, will face Australian Alex de Minaur, the defending champion and No 3 seed, next. The pair have met twice as professionals with their head-to-head being tied at 1-1. Besides the title, there’s also plenty at stake on the rankings side for both players.

De Minaur, ranked No 9 in the world this week, will remain in the top 10 if he wins on Sunday but will drop to No 11 with a loss. Ruud, who is ranked 11th this week, will climb to No 8 with the title and No 9 if he loses.

Earlier in the tournament, Rune, ranked No 7, won against American qualifier Michael Mmoh (6-2, 6-3), American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic (7-6 (5), 6-2) and German Dominik Koepfer (7-6 (2), 7-6).

Acapulco ATP 500, other semi-final result (Princess Mundo Imperial Resort, hard, USD 2,206,080):

• Alex De Minaur beat Jack Draper: 6-3, 2-6, 4-0 ret.