ROME: Holger Rune battled from a set and break down to seal a 6-7(2-7), 6-4, 6-2 win over world number four Casper Ruud in an absorbing all-Scandinavian Italian Open semi-final on Saturday and meets Stefanos Tsitsipas or Daniil Medvedev next.

French and US Open runner-up Ruud took a tight first set on the back of 22 winners, including 11 on his forehand, and looked well on course for a spot in the final after grabbing the first break of the match in the second set for a 4-2 lead.

“I told myself at this moment I had nothing to lose, he’s probably going to win the match,” Denm­ark’s Rune said. “So I told myself to play free and enjoy myself as it would probably be my last set here.”

Rune took a medical timeout for a minor shoulder problem and that loo­ked to throw Estoril champion Ruud off his game as the 24-year-old Norwegian surrendered his serve twice to get dragged into a deciding set.

A double-fault gifted Rune a break and a 3-1 lead in the final set and the 20-year-old never looked back as he sealed a first victory over Ruud in five meetings.

“I really played some of my best tennis,” said Ru­ne, who beat world num­ber one Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. “Especially in the matches against Novak and Casper. Such difficult players to play against. I had to find my best tennis and I actually didn’t find it today until the end. That’s why I turned it around.”

The Dane will be playing his eighth ATP final (4-3) and his third this season. He won in Paris Bercy last November and was runner-up to Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo in April.

On Friday, Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina fought from 4-1 down in the second set to overhaul Jelena Ostapenko to reach the women’s final where she will play Anhelina Kalinina.

The 6-2, 6-4 comeback from the Kazakh in a match delayed by more than an hour — and then interrupted — due to persistent rain sent Rybakina into her fourth major final of the season after the Australian

Open, Indian Wells and Miami.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2023