Surprising Masters 1000 champions and finalists have almost been the norm in 2025, and the Mutua Madrid Open is no exception.
Either Jack Draper will win his second Masters title–and second of the season–or Casper Ruud will secure his first after they battled into the championship match on Friday. Before Draper defeated Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6(4), Ruud beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-4, 7-5.
Ruud’s straight-set success was not without complication. The Norwegian trailed by a break in both sets and he also took a medical timeout for an apparent rib issue early in the first.
“I got a couple of painkillers, which is not the ideal thing, but at the same time in a situation like this, you have to do that now and then,” he explained. “I was able to just play one game at a time really. It was easing and getting better as the match went on.”
Draper stayed hot by getting the best of Musetti in one hour and 57 minutes.
“I felt like both of us, our quality didn’t really drop from the first ball,” said the British left-hander. “Credit to Lorenzo, he’s obviously playing so good on the clay. I played him on hard, and on grass when we were juniors, growing up with him. But on clay, he’s a different beast, so to get this win on this court in this stage, semi-finals, it means so much to me.”
Draper triumphed in Indian Wells two months ago, besting Holger Rune in that 1000-point final. That was followed by Jakub Mensik’s surprising title in Miami. A more expected champion prevailed in Monte-Carlo (Carlos Alcaraz), although even that event had a surprising runner-up (Musetti).
Ruud is 0-2 lifetime in Masters 1000 finals and has won just a single tournament above the ATP 250 level (Barcelona in 2024).
WWW?
draper in 3
Ruud in 3 into Gauff @ 12s
oops
If she wins that 2nd set she probably wins.
I’d have taken Sabalenka in the third, but probably close to 50/50. Both were playing bad.
Which makes Swiatek loss look even worse.
Doubt it because what Gauff was lacking was self belief. That would’ve given her the confidence to get it done.
But agree, it ended up being a 50/50 match.
…and the coin toss flipped in your favor on this occasion. I’ll take 12s for a 30% chance of something happening.
Swiatek was a completely different matchup, so I wouldn’t be using this match as a guide to that performance.
Gauff can come out and not miss and then choke on every opportunity in the next match. Such is the nature of women’s tennis.