Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud will be facing each other for the fifth time in their careers and in a second consecutive final when they battle for the title of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell on Sunday afternoon.
They also squared off in last Sunday’s Monte-Carlo championship match, with Tsitsipas triumphing 6-1, 6-4 to pull even at 2-2 in the head-to-head series. This marks their third meeting already in 2024, as Ruud had previously prevailed 6-4, 7-6(4) in the Los Cabos semis. Ruud also won 7-6(5), 6-4 three years ago at the Madrid Masters, so they are 1-1 against each other on clay.
Despite failing to be competitive in Monte-Carlo, Ruud looks poised for revenge. The sixth-ranked Norwegian, whose Monte-Carlo run included an upset of world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, has advanced in Barcelona with straight-set victories over Alexandre Muller, Jordan Thompson, Matteo Arnaldi, and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Tsitsipas took a more circuitous route to the final. The seventh-ranked Greek made quick work of Sebastian Ofner and Roberto Carballes Baena in straight sets, but he needed a third-set tiebreaker to get past Facundo Diaz Acosta (saved two match points) before beating Dusan Lajovic in a three-set semifinal. Tsitsipas looked fatigued in each of those two contests and very easily could have lost to Lajovic in straight sets, but he managed to win the second and the Serb fell away in the third.
Ruud has been by far the best player all week long in Barcelona, so he should have a good chance to avenge last week’s Monte-Carlo setback.
Pick: Ruud in 3
WWW?
Ruud in 3 (if Tsitsipas wins, and his head gets bigger, it might burst)
Rudd might be fresher, but Tpas has the momentum!…in 3
Hope they ordered a large pizza for him because he’ll need it.
Let’s pick Sunday’s WTA Finals.
Ruon:
Stephens over Linette? Or the other way around.
I pick Stephens in 2.
Stuttgart: Will the winner be Rybakina or Kostyuk?
I pick Kostyuk in 3
Kudos, Big Al, you did what I wished would happen and picked Marta Kostyuk. I thought Marta’s draw was impossible.
Linette and Rybak
Congrats to Elena Rybakina.
I couldn’t watch it because I couldn’t stand to watch Kostyuk ousted in the final after she put her heart and soul on the line by making the final.
Cami, good come-from-behind sneak attack! Wow.
Ill go for Ruud as per my bracket. Often happens reverse results in consecutive weeks .I didnt like the way Apostolas was shouting advice to his son and putting Lajovic off. Plus agree about the arrogance.
Gauff struggled this year while Kostyuk went very well , but this time I think Rybakina will win after beating Swiatek. I root for Kostyuk though.
Disaster in ROen for me after picking Cocciaretto but Ill say Linette to win
Big Al,
You nearly made a full sweep of everything ATP and WTA!
But you ruined your Rouen bracket, as did my Stuttgart one.
Linette has been playing great! I’ll stay with Stephens.
I read that cocciaretto was playing well or it would have been Garcia in the final. Think I’ve won all the atp no matter what happens.
Oh, like Cocciaretto, but I took Garcia. And last time I checked, I was at least atop the Rueon bracket, Failing in all others. 😀
There are too many of these brackets I do enjoy them it makes each match interesting but one a week’s enough .
Going into Madrid no prizes who I pick in the women’s .
I usually do more analysis in the mens .Apart from the usual suspects Shelton seems a good outside pick.
Wel done Cami for picking Rybakina. Beating Swiatek on clay .
Ouch, did you need to say the beating Iga on the clay part?
Mark Petchy is a disingenuous tennis c’tator, and I can’t stand that guy. Send him back to Europe, TC!
He does fawn over the Americans at full speed.
Rybak owns Iga
It’s Painful enough, okay? At this point, it may be true.
I’m not hating on Rybakina, though. Iga will need to improve and work through it if she can. Meanwhile, I probably can’t pick her to win. And I have female friends who text me or call to rub my nose in it about Saba anyway.
I’ll pick Gauff; she made it to the French Open QF.
Karolina Muchova is my favorite pick to win Roland Garros.
The other one is Marta Kostyuk, who perhaps needs more time.
Vondrousova put the brakes on Saba, but I think was caught by surprise by Marta, as was I!
Muchova isn’t playing, so you might wanna change your pick!
No surprises about who YOU pick in WTA Madrid?
Rybakina or Sabalenka, I’d guess, Big Al.
If they don’t open Madrid brackets until late today, I could miss the deadline.
Cancel my dinner date is what I need to do. But I doubt he will understand my excuse to get tennis brackets done, hahaha
It’s been tried before 🙂
Go Casper!
Saba , it’s become a tradition.Works in Madrid at least.
I can’t argue about your pick, my Irish friend.
It is usual for me to think about who you and the others are picking when filling out both ATP/WTA brackets.
Ricky, the brackets are not open yet, dang it.
I’m sorry; I was not clear. Karolina Muchova is the one I hope to win Roland Garros. Iga beat her, but Muchova moves so beautifully on clay. By this point, I hope she will be in the Rome draw.
Yeah, I was ready for this past week; ready to fail, that is.
Too many brackets but I did like it like picking them.
Bucharest, that bracket was going to be a mess, so I just picked Korda.
Everyone else’s bracket picks ended up low-scoring too.
Sloane Stephens wins; Congrats, Sloane!
I didn’t forget her but picked Pavs.
Sloane is in the running on clay.
Before leaving today, I want to thank everyone who plays the weekly bracket. It’s an honor to be in your company.
Big Al does sweep the 3 ATP brackets. Well played, sir.
welshwitch wins Rouen. Congrats! It was a close win with a backhand pass one behind.
Cami is the big winner for sticking with Rybakina in Stuttgart!
Congratulations to Casper Ruud for winning the biggest prize this week, Barcelona.
Go, Casper, keep winning!!
Sorry, autocorrect; the name is backhandpass in the above post! stop changing it!!
Just checked my profile on bracket challenge, made interesting but humiliating reading! My bestb result was 62%, in a GS I think.
They take results off very quickly so I usually miss final check.
I usually do them in 5 minutes max., tho in my defence….;) Since Amazon stopped broadcasting I watch less and less tennis and US time is bad for us Europeans.