Hellenic king in Monte Carlo –

Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday to win the Monte Carlo Clay Masters for the third time in four years and broke down in tears in his chair.

Tsitsipas held his head in his hands and cried for a moment following winning his first title of the year and his most important victory in two years.

“I am very proud of myself today. I had to wait a long time for a moment like this,” admitted Tsitsipas, who is 12th in the world rankings. “I didn’t know what was going to happen this week.”

The Greek, who is characterized by his strong serve, won the titles in 2021 and 2022. With this title he reached 11 in his career.

It was also his first title since August of last year. when he won a modest ATP-250 tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico.

But this one is more prestigious and he shared an affectionate hug online with Ruud, who is still looking for his first title of the year and the 11th of his career.

The duel pitted two French Open finalists and was an indication of what they will see at the clay major next month at Roland Garros.

Tsitsipas came into the tournament as the 12th seed. But he eliminated Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the semifinals, who suffered only his second loss of the year and set up an unexpected final once morest Ruud, who beat Novak Djokovic on Saturday.

Tsitsipas took control at the start. He broke Ruud’s serve to go up 3-1 and secured another break when the eighth seed sent a forehand into the net. A nervous Ruud double faulted on set point.

Although Ruud improved in the second set and began to pressure Tsitsipas, he saved three break points and it took him 13 minutes to hold serve in a difficult seventh game.

This was Ruud’s last chance in an erratic match in which he made too many unforced errors and failed to convert on eight point break opportunities.

Tsitsipas dominated a brief comeback and confirmed victory with a forehand winner, diving to the ground with his arms open before placing his hands on his face.

“I managed the point relatively well and ended up with a winner,” admitted Tsitsipas, who will reach seventh position in the world rankings on Monday.

Steps forward

The Norwegian Casper Ruud regretted another defeat in a final of a major tournament, but preferred to draw positive conclusions by ensuring that he had taken steps forward in his career.

Ruud thinks he has made progress on clay. Especially with the victory in the semifinals once morest Novak Djokovic. But the former world number two has not finished tying up a high-level tournament. He has ten titles. But his eleven lost finals include three Grand Slam finals—two at Roland Garros and one United States Open—, with this Sunday two at the Masters 1000 level, Miami and Monte Carlo and once in the ATP Finals.

“I’ve moved forward, I’ve taken some steps forward this week but in the final it didn’t work out. I played well on clay and beating Djokovic was something fantastic for me and something that can give me a lot of confidence,” he indicated.

Ruud will be sixth in the ranking following this final. “The next time I play an important match, in a tournament and if I am in a final I will think that I beat Djokovic. It will give me confidence.”

“This year I am a little closer to a big win, I play more relaxed and I don’t have much to lose. I have achieved, when I think regarding it, more things than I might have thought of at the beginning of my career but obviously you want bigger goals like a Grand Slam. “It’s my dream,” Ruud added.— EFE