Rome Masters: Ruud books spot versus Rune in semi-finals

Norwegian Casper Ruud, the No 4 seed, defeated Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, the No 24 seed, 7-6 (5), 6-4 to advance to the last four of the Rome Masters at the Foro Italico on Wednesday.

Ruud, ranked No 4, will face Dane Holger Rune, the No 7 seed, next.

This will be Ruud’s third semi-final in Rome – and it comes with his first win on clay versus Cerundolo, who has won both their previous meetings on that surface, including a third-round match in Barcelona last month.

In the previous rounds of the Italian Open, the Norwegian won against Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (6-4, 6-0), Kazakh Alexander Bublik (6-1, 4-6, 7-6) and Serb Laslo Djere (6-1, 6-3).

Cerundolo, ranked No 31, beat Chinese Yibing Wu (4-6, 6-2, 6-3), Frenchman Gregoire Barrere (6-7, 6-2, 6-2) and Italian Jannik Sinner, the No 8 seed (6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2) earlier in the tournament.

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Rome Masters, other last eight results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Borna Coric
• Yannick Hanfmann vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Holger Rune beat Novak Djokovic (1): 6-2, 4-6, 6-2