Emil Ruusuvuori advanced to the final match of the ATP tournament for the second time in his career. In the final, Ruusuvuori will challenge the world number 5, the Russian Andrei Rublev.
Joel Sippola,
Matti Lehtisaari
Emil Ruusuvuori has advanced to the singles final of the Hong Kong ATP tournament. He defeated the Austrian in his semi-final by Sebastian Ofner set 2–1 (4–6, 7–5, 6–3).
For the 24-year-old Finnish player, the final place in the ATP tournament is the second in his career. Two years ago in India, he defeated Portugal in the final To Joao Sousa.
In a 4–4 situation, Ofner broke Ruusuvuori’s pass. Immediately after this, the Austrian held his own serve and thus took the opening set 6–4.
Rusuvuori opened the second set well and held its serve.
In a 4–3 situation, Ruusuvuori had a great opportunity to break Ofner’s pass and take a 5–3 lead in the set. However, Ruusuvuori lost three game balls and the Austrian held his serve.
The Finn finally broke Ofner’s pass in the 6–5 situation and took the second set.
Ruusuvuori also started the third set with sure passing. The Finn broke the Austrian’s pass for the second time in a 3–2 situation. Ruusuvuori didn’t give the Austrian any more chances and thus the third set was 6-3 for the Finn.
In the final, Rublev, who is ranked number one, will face
Ruusuvuori will face the tournament’s number one Russian in Sunday’s final Andrei Rublev. Rublev beat the Chinese in the semifinals Juncheng Shang’s. Rublev is ranked fifth in the world, but Rosuvuori defeated him last year.
– I’m going to go and enjoy the final. The final will be really tough. Everyone knows how good Rublev is, so it’s nothing more than getting the tactics right and going, Ruusuvuori anticipates.
Ruusuvuori is ranked 69th in the current world list. Ofner, who was bent aboard Ruusuvuori in the semi-final, is 26 places above Ruusuvuori.
– It feels very good. A very tight and high-quality match. I only tried to keep up with the first installments; he passed really well and played aggressively. In the third, I tried to do everything I could through a constant fight and make things as difficult as possible for him, Ruusuvuori commented in an interview after the match.
Jarkko Nieminen is so far the only Finn to win an ATP singles tournament. Nieminen won the championship twice: in Auckland 2006 and Sydney 2012.
Updated 14.05: Added Ruusuvuori’s opponent for the final.