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
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