Zverev rolls past Ruud, books spot alongside Alcaraz in Roland-Garros final

It will be a battle between first-time Roland-Garros finalists on Sunday.

After Carlos Alcaraz outlasted Jannik Sinner in five sets earlier on Friday, Alexander Zverev joined the Spaniard with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Casper Ruud in the nightcap. Zverev advanced to his second Grand Slam title match overall after two hours and 35 minutes of play.

The German and the Spaniard will be facing each other for the 10th time, with Zverev leading the head-to-head series 5-4.

Ruud comes out hot in semi-final rematch

Ruud thrashed Zverev 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in the Roland-Garros semi-finals last year and for a brief moment it looked like the story could be the same this time around. The world No 7 stormed out of the gates by breaking his opponent at love for a quick 2-0 lead. Ruud ended up winning the first three games of the match and soon found himself leading 5-2. A second break for good measure wrapped up the first set in style.

Just like that, Ruud looked poised to reach the title match in Paris for a third consecutive season. He finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023.

ZVEREV TAKES ADVANTAGE OF RUUD’S STRUGGLES

The tide, however, was quick to turn.

A noticeable rise in Zverev’s level coincided with a downturn in Ruud’s physical state. The Norwegian began to struggle midway through the second set, seemingly dealing with a stomach bug. Zverev pounced at the opportunity, breaking Ruud twice while losing a total of three points on his own serve throughout the second.

From there it remained one-way traffic for Zverev. Ruud’s condition never improved to a drastic extended as the German continued to dominate both on serve and in rallies. Zverev broke serve once in the third set and saved a lone break point at 5-4 to serve it out.

Two breaks for were more than enough in the fourth for the 27-year-old, who wrapped up the match with a comfortable hold at 5-2.

“It was a little bit unfortunate,” Ruud said. “I started well. Towards the middle, end of the first set, I started feeling some discomfort — an ache in my stomach. So I wasn’t able to keep the intensity and the energy level up. It was something that was bothering me; just kind of [limiting] me.

“It’s not something I think is very serious or going to last for a long time, but something that came up in the first set. I won the first set, so it was a good feeling, but didn’t feel very well even in the first set. Then the last three went quick because Sascha played well, of course, but I wasn’t able to play with the kind of tennis I like to play with intensity because I was kind of limited with my stomach.”

The result is Zverev playing for a major title for the first time since the 2020 US Open. In that final he served for the match before losing to Dominic Thiem in a fifth-set tiebreak.

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