Casper Ruud crushes Andrey Rublev to set up Novak Djokovic showdown for ATP Finals title | Tennis | Sport
The world No 4 will now face Djokovic for the biggest title of his career in tomorrow’s final. Ruud has nine titles to his name but all have come at the lowest level on the tour, ATP 250. Meanwhile the Serb is bidding to equal Roger Federer’s record of six ATP Finals titles.
Djokovic won his first season-ending championships back in 2008 before winning four in a row from 2012 to 2015 but he has not won one since, appearing in two finals and losing to Andy Murray in 2016 and Alexander Zverev in 2018. The Serb leads his head-to-head with Ruud 3-0 and the 23-year-old has never even taken a set off the world No 8.
Meanwhile, Rublev’s season comes to an end as he has been left unable to compete in the upcoming Davis Cup Finals after Russia was banned from competing in response to the war in Ukraine. Despite losing his final match of the year, the 25-year-old also ends the season having reached the semi-finals of the ATP Finals for the first time while he also picked up four titles in 2022 and reached two more Grand Slam quarter-finals.
