Norway’s Casper Ruud staged an emphatic comeback against Matteo Berrettini to clinch his ninth ATP trophy at the EFG Swiss Open Gstaad.
The top seed required more than two-and-a-half hours to oust his rival 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, in the Swiss city. The victory ends Berrettini’s streak of 12 consecutive wins on the Tour. Ruud dropped his serve only once in the match as he won 75% of his service points. After dropping the opener, he then was forced to save a break point at 4-4 in the second set. If Berrettini had won that point, he would have had the opportunity to serve for the title.
Despite the threat, Ruud weathered the storm to turn the match around in his favour. After snatching the tiebreaker with the help of some costly errors from his opponent, he won five games in a row in the decider en route to victory.
“I changed up a little bit in the third set especially, which helped. The games and the points here go by fast if you’re not ready and focused. You can get broken, or break fast, because the conditions allow you to,” Ruud said after the match.
“It was key for me to hold serve in the second set. [Saving] those break points was very important for me. The tiebreak, everything went in my favour. I tried to keep that momentum going in the third set.”
The 23-year-old has become the first player to win back-to-back titles in Gstaad since Spain’s Sergi Bruguera did so in 1994. He is also the first player to win the title whilst currently ranked inside the world’s top 10 since Roger Federer in 2004.
Ruud’s triumph is a much-needed confidence boost for him after what has been a lacklustre past few weeks. Before this week, he had failed to win back-to-back matches at three consecutive tournaments. It is fitting that he has gained some momentum in Switzerland which is a country where he has a perfect winning record of 16-0 when it comes to Tour matches played. Ruud is also a two-time champion in Geneva.
“The Swiss crowd helps me a lot. Everything about Switzerland reminds me a little bit about Norway. Except that you pay less taxes here,” he joked.
Ruud now leads Berrettini 3-2 in their head-to-head. He was scheduled to play in next week’s Kitzbühel Open where he is the reigning champion but has pulled out of the tournament shortly after his win in Gstaad.
