Tennis-Ruud battles past Rune to book Acapulco final with De Minaur

Casper Ruud overcame a stern test from ailing second seed Holger Rune and clinched a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory, reaching the Mexican Open final on Friday - a title clash with defending champion Alex de Minaur.

Casper Ruud overcame a stern test from ailing second seed Holger Rune and clinched a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory, reaching the Mexican Open final on Friday - a title clash with defending champion Alex de Minaur. It will be Ruud's second final in Mexico in as many weeks, but he will hope for a better result on Saturday after being beaten in Los Cabos by another Australian, Jordan Thompson.

The Norwegian was pushed to the limit by world No. 7 Rune in physically demanding conditions in Acapulco. Rune came out firing and took the opening set. He was a point away from a break in the third game of the next set after finishing a long rally with a forehand winner at the net, but the Dane suddenly began to lose momentum.

The 20-year-old eventually squandered the opportunity as sixth-seed Ruud regrouped and levelled at one set apiece, switching to a more aggressive style of play. Ruud, who had beaten the Scandinavian five of six times on clay, sensed the opportunity to extend his advantage over Rune, who appeared hampered by illness and needed medication before the start of the third set.

But Rune drew huge cheers from the crowd by breaking for 3-1 with an unbelievable forehand return from deep after Ruud thought he had won the point with an overhead smash. Ruud clawed his way back and went up 5-4 as a cramping Rune wobbled on serve with a couple of double faults, before the world No. 11 settled the contest.

Earlier, De Minaur returned to the final when Briton Jack Draper retired from their semi-final because of an undisclosed issue while trailing 6-3 2-6 4-0. "It's never easy. And I think it's all about what kind of stage in the match it is. So that's why it's so important to try and get your nose ahead even in that third set," said De Minaur, who began to put the ailing Draper to the sword in the decider.

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