Stockholm, Oct 23: The world No.5 Stefanos Tsitsipas delivered a clinical semifinal showing, easing past Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 6-2 to reach the final at the Stockholm Open, here on Saturday.
The top seed broke Ruusuvuori’s serve five times in the pair’s maiden tour-level meeting, finding consistency behind his groundstrokes to overpower the Finn in 74 minutes.
The win improved Tsitsipas’ record in Stockholm to 7-0 and maintained his unbeaten record at the ATP 250 event. The Greek will hope to seal a second title at the hard-court event when he returns on Sunday for the championship match against Holger Rune.
“It was a great match from my side, I think I played very well,” said Tsitsipas after his victory.
“I was really focused, [it was] one of the matches where I was really into the game and I was able to produce some really good tennis throughout the entire match, pretty much. I was there, I was very daring, I was really going for it, and it worked in my favour,” he added.
Tsitsipas has shown no nerves upon returning to compete in Stockholm for the first time since 2018 when he lifted his maiden ATP Tour title in the Swedish capital. He has not dropped a set in moving past Maxime Cressy, home favourite Mikael Ymer and Ruusuvuori.
Saturday’s victory was a Tour-leading 56th of the 2022 season for Tsitsipas, who has already booked his place at November’s ATP Finals. He has now reached seven tour-level finals this year, the joint-most alongside World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz. (IANS)
