Casper Ruud erased at least some of the hurt from this month’s Wimbledon second-round loss by Saturday reaching his second final at the ATP Bastad event.
Success in southern Sweden leaves the world No. 4 one victory away from repeating his 2021 title here.
Ruud takes a particular shine to summer on clay; of his 10 career titles, four have come in July and August in Europe.
The Norwegian top seed advanced to the title match as he beat Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-5 in one and three-quarter hours.
He will fight for the trophy on Sunday against Andrey Rublev after the Wimbledon quarter-finalist made a lightning turnaround to the clay this week, defeating Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 a96), 6-7 (7), 6-3 in a battle of nearly three hours.
Ruud heads into the week’s decider 1ith 20 wins this season and will look for his first title since Estoril in May.