Mexican Open: Ruud survives Shelton, to face “keeps on improving” Rune in semis

Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 6 seed, advanced to the last four of the Mexican Open by edging out American Ben Shelton 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4 at the Princess Mundo Imperial Resort in Acapulco on Thursday.

This is Ruud’s first semi-final above the ATP 250 level since reaching 2023 Roland-Garros final.

He is now through to his 32nd tour-level semi-final (19-12 record so far). The Norwegian is assured of returning to the Top 10 on Monday for the first time since early November.

He’s one of the new really young players who just keeps improving and improving.

Casper Ruud on Holger Rune

Ruud, ranked No 11, will face Dane Holger Rune, the second seed, next. The Norwegian leads their head-to-head 5-1 with the pair splitting their two meetings in 2023.

“It’s going to be a really tough one tomorrow against Holger,” said Ruud as quoted by the ATP Tour website. “He’s one of the new really young players who just keeps improving and improving, We’ve played each other quite a few times already and I played him from when he was really early on. It’s fun to see his improvement every time he steps on court and every time I face him. So it’ll be another one tomorrow and I’m going to give it my all.”

The Norwegian won against American Christopher Eubanks (6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3) and Serb Dusan Lajovic (6-4, 7-5) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Shelton, ranked No 17, edged out Daniel Evans (2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5)) and beat Italian Matteo Arnaldi (7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-3).

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

• Holger Rune beat Dominik Koepfer: 7-6 (2), 7-6
• Alex De Minaur (3) beat Stefanos Tsitsipas (5): 1-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Jack Draper beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-2, 6-2