Two contenders for a place in the last eight of the ATP Finals are currently battling for 11th place in the Race Rankings and look set to meet in the final of the BNP Paribas Nordic Open in Stockholm.
With just five points difference in the qualifying stakes, top seed Holger Rune, who is 12th behind Casper Ruud, had to recover from a tight opening set to get past Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4, while second seed Ruud was also well tested by Sebastian Korda before moving on with a 6-7(5) 6-4 6-4 victory.
Rune needed a medical timeout for his left thigh in the deciding set, which will hopefully not affect him in the semi-finals when he faces fourth seed Ugo Humbert, who eventually got past Lorenzo Sonego 6-7(3) 6-0 6-3.
“Not that good, to be honest,” replied Rune, the 2022 champion, when asked about his thigh. “But I am very happy that I was able to complete the match. Without all your great fans this would not have been possible. My left leg really bothered me, but the energy was very special.”
He made nineteen unforced errors in the first set alone, but on his way to his third semi-final of the season he knocked out 59 winners.
Meanwhile, Ruud, who is trying to qualify for Turin for the fourth time, defeated his American opponent for the second time, but it took him two hours and thirty minutes to get past Korda.
Ruud’s semi-final opponent will be Canadian third seed Denis Shapovalov, who ended the day by ousting home hope Elias Ymer 6-4 6-7(3) 6-1.
The Stockholm semi-final line-up includes all four seeds, marking the second time this season this has been achieved.
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