Stefanos Tsitsipas swept apart Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to win the clay-court Monte Carlo Masters for the third time in 4 years after which wept in his chair.
Tsitsipas sat holding his head in his arms, briefly crying as he took in his first title of the yr and largest event victory in two years.
“I am very pleased with myself at the moment. I had been ready for a second like this for a very long time,” stated the Twelfth-ranked Tsitsipas, who reached a career-high No. 3 rating in 2021. “I didn’t know what was going to occur this week.”
The large-serving Greek additionally gained the title in 2021 and 2022, and this newest trophy on the Monte Carlo Nation Membership took him to 11 profession titles total. He joins Rafael Nadal, Bjorn Borg, Thomas Muster and Ilie Nastase with at the very least three Monte Carlo titles.
“It has been very tough, so to be again on the rostrum, profitable tournaments, simply feels wonderful,” Tsitsipas stated. “The third time is much more particular than the primary or second time. That is an unbelievable win for me. Capturing that win at the moment was nerve-wracking. I actually needed this trinity.”
It was his first trophy since August, when he gained a modest ATP 250-level event on out of doors arduous courts at Los Cabos in Mexico.
This was rather more prestigious, and he shared a heat hug on the web with Ruud, who’s chasing his first title of the yr and stays caught on 10 total.
The match featured previous French Open runners-up and supplied an early indication of kind heading into subsequent month’s clay-court main at Roland Garros.
Tsitsipas was an outsider coming into this event, the place he was seeded Twelfth. However he acquired the higher of Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner within the semifinals, handing him solely his second defeat of the season to arrange a maybe sudden closing in opposition to Ruud, who beat top-ranked Novak Djokovic in Saturday’s different semi.
Taking early management, Tsitsipas broke Ruud’s serve and held for 3-1 then secured one other break of serve when the eighth-seeded Ruud flapped a free forehand into the web from the again of the court docket. A nervous-looking Ruud double-faulted on set level.
Ruud improved within the second set and pressured Tsitsipas, who saved three break factors and took 13 minutes to carry serve in a tricky seventh sport.
That appeared to be Ruud’s final likelihood whereas additionally summing up his erratic match, the place he made too many unforced errors and did not convert any of his eight break-point probabilities.
Tsitsipas hit an ace to win his subsequent service sport, leaving Ruud needing to carry serve to remain within the match.
An unforced error at 30-30 noticed Ruud pat a straightforward-looking backhand lengthy to supply Tsitsipas a primary match level.
He seized the second.
Tsitsipas dominated a short rally, clinched victory with a forehand winner after which slid on his again along with his arms outstretched and put his arms on his face.
“I managed the purpose comparatively properly and completed it with the winner,” Tsitsipas stated. “I confirmed some ruthless tennis. From the start to the tip, my play was cohesive.”
Tsitsipas will enhance to No. 7 when the ATP rankings are launched Monday.
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
