Casper Ruud denied Novak Djokovic his shot at a third Rolex Monte Carlo Masters title, defeating the World’s top-ranked player 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 in the semifinals on Saturday in Monaco.
Ruud became the first Norwegian man to defeat a World No. 1 since the inception of the rankings in 1973.
Djokovic had two double faults in the two-hour, 17-minute match, none more costly than on break point—and match point—in the deciding game of the third set.
With Ruud up 5–4, and Djokovic serving down 30–40, his second serve went long to give Ruud his fourth break and the match.
“I am super happy,” Ruud said. “This is a day I will remember for a long time. Beating a World No. 1 is something I have never done and beating Novak is something I have never done. I am very, very happy. I am a little bit in a state of shock right now.
“I was up in the third and he came back, typical how good these guys are under pressure. And I was thinking please don’t let this slip away and 0/40 in the last game, it is not done. When he missed the first serve [at 30/40], he saved so many break points in crazy ways, with huge second serves. I prayed one time, let it be a double fault and something above listened and of course it was unfortunate to end the match with a double fault but for me it was nice to see that ball sail long.”
Ruud had played against the Serbian five times previously and had never won a set. Coming into the match, he was 0–11 against players with top-3 rankings.
The No. 8-seeded Ruud was up 4–1 in the third set and saw Djokovic rally to even the set at 4–4. Ruud won his next service game—Djokovic had four breaks of his own—to set up the deciding game.
Ruud has 10 ATP titles, with nine of them coming on clay. But he never has won a tournament above the ATP 250 level.
He'll have a shot at his first ATP 1000 win on Sunday when he meets Stefanos Tsitstpas of Greece in the final.
