Casper Ruud earned one of the biggest wins of his career when he upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic here on Saturday to reach the final of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Ruud, ranked 10th in the world, defeated the world No.1 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to enter his second ATP Masters 1000 final.
The Norwegian had never won a set off Djokovic in their previous five meetings. He will take on two-time champion Stefanos Tsitsipas who stunned second seed Jannik Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in Sunday’s title clash.
“I am super happy,” Ruud said. “This is a day I will remember for a long time. Beating a world No. 1 is something I have never done and beating Novak is something I have never done. I am very, very happy. I am a little bit in a state of shock right now.”
Ruud swung freely throughout the two-hour, 17-minute clash, clubbing 23 winners to outlast the Serbian, who struggled to find his usual levels of consistency.
In a dramatic third set in the semi-final, Ruud recovered from squandering a break advantage after Djokovic upped his consistency and aggression to level at 4-4 after trailing 1-4. The Serbian looked as if he was on course to complete his comeback, but was unable to fend off Ruud who sealed victory on his third match point after Djokovic double faulted.
The 25-year-old Tsitsipas, who won the title in 2021 and 2022, kept his cool after a near-flawless display in the opening set to stop Sinner from producing a comeback.
