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By Tennis Now | Saturday, July 23, 2022

 
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Reigning champion Casper Ruud swept Albert Ramos-Vinolas to set up a Gstaad final vs. 2018 champion Matteo Berrettini.

Photo credit: Getty

Give Casper Ruud an hour and he'll give you powerful play on clay.

Reigning champion Ruud roared through eight straight games dismissing Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 6-0 to storm into his second straight Swiss Open Gstaad final.

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It is the fifth final of the year for the top-seeded Ruud, who improved to 5-1 in ATP semifinals this season.




Dictating play with his ferocious forehand, Ruud won 21 of 26 points played on his first serve.

Ruud battered the Spanish left-hander's backhand wing breaking serve five times scoring his seventh straight Gstaad win in 62 minutes.

The fifth-ranked Ruud will face streaking Matteo Berrettini in tomorrow's final between the current and former champions who are the top two seeds.

In today's opening semifinal, 2018 champion Berrettini beat 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem 6-1, 6-4 to post his 12th consecutive victory.

Tennis Express

Berrettini won back-to-back titles on grass at Stuttgart and Queen's Club before he was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon after contracting Coronavirus.

There have been some stress tests for the second-seeded Italian this week, including his quarterfinal comeback from 1-5 down in the second-set tiebreaker yesterday to defeat Pedro Martinez 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

Today, Berrettini played his most authoritative tennis frequently firing his crackling forehand to punctuate points.




“I’m really happy with my performance,” said Berrettini after a 78-minute victory. “I knew that I had to play my best tennis to beat him.

"I think my game in general was working pretty well. I was serving well, returning well. I was being aggressive. I don’t think I gave him the time to play his game and that was the key today.”

World No. 15 Berrettini advanced to his third final of the season and will play for his eighth career title tomorrow. Four of Berrettini's seven championships have come on grass with the other three coming on red clay. Berrettini has not lost a match since his fourth-round Indian Wells defeat to Miomir Kecmanovic last March.

The 23-year-old Ruud has split four career meetings with Berrettini. 

“Obviously, the more you play, the more you feel better,” said Berrettini afterward. “I think today was my best match of the week, obviously against a great player.

"I knew that I had to play at this level to beat him. I started way better. The approach was better, the attitude was better, the energy was better. I really enjoyed it.”

 

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