Either Jack Draper will win his second ATP Masters 1000 title of the year or Casper Rood will win the first win of his career, when both men on Friday entered the final of the Mutua Madrid Open with a win.
Great Britain’s No. 5 Seed Draper defeated Italy’s 6-3, 7-6 (4) number 10 Seed Lorenzo Mussetti in the first semi-final match. Norwegian 14th seed Rood then lagged Argentina’s number 20 Seed Francisco Cerendolo 6-4, 7-5.
Draper’s victory only joined the best season of his young career. The 23 -year -old won the Indian Wales Masters in March. He is guaranteed to grow in the top five of the world rankings for the first time next week.
He won 38 out of 49 first-service points (77.6 percent) against Mussetti. Draper had 19 winners and 19 unexpected errors, while his rival managed 22 winners but made 25 unexpected errors.
Draper is now 4–0 to 4–0 against Mussetti.
“I felt that like us both, our quality did not really fall from the first ball,” Draper said after the match. “Credit to Lorenzo, he is clearly playing very well on the soil. I played him on hard work and grass when we were growing up with him. But on the soil, he is a separate animal, so he is a separate animal, so to achieve this victory at this stage, semi -finals, it matters a lot to me.”
Talking about proficiency on Clay, it is no surprise that 26 -year -old Rood is in a position to capture the biggest title of his career. He reached the French Open finals in 2022 and 2023 and also had a trophy win in the 2024 Monte-Karlo Masters. Out of his 12 ATP victories, eleven clashes came.
Rud hit four aces and saved 15 out of 18 break points against Sendolo, winning 5 out of 9 break-point opportunities. In the second set, he fell back 4–3, but a rally was held to win four of the last five matches of the match.
Rud also revealed that he was playing through some pain in his rib, for which he got three sports treatment in the match.
“I was not sure I was going to be able to finish the match, honestly,” Rud said. “I felt something in my rib during warm -up, just before going out (on court), and I felt it in almost every shot, especially service.
“I found some pain relievers, which is not an ideal thing, but in such a situation at the same time, you have to do so now and again. I was really able to play just one game at a time. It was getting easy and better because the match was gone.”
Draper and Ruds will shut down on Sunday for the title.
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