ROME — Casper Ruud showcased remarkable concentration during a nearly two-hour rain delay to dominate local favorite Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1, securing his spot in the Italian Open final for the very first time on Friday.
The match experienced a suspension with Ruud already ahead 4-1 in the opening set.
In the final showdown on Sunday at the red clay courts of Foro Italico, Ruud is set to clash against either top seed Jannik Sinner or former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, who were competing later in the day.
Coco Gauff is set to face Elina Svitolina in the women’s final on Saturday.
Rome serves as the last significant warmup before the much-anticipated French Open kicks off in just nine days.
Ruud, a two-time finalist at Roland Garros, fell to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Novak Djokovic in 2023.
Once soaring as high as No. 2 in the rankings, Ruud is currently positioned at No. 25 but is set to ascend back into the top 20 come Monday. He has surrendered only one set throughout this year’s Rome tournament — a narrow defeat to Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals.
The 20th-ranked Darderi, originally from Argentina and of Italian descent, overcame four match points in his fourth-round victory over Alexander Zverev and triumphed in an exhausting quarterfinal against Rafael Jodar that concluded at 2 a.m.
