(September 9, 2022) FLUSHONG MEADOWS, New York – It will be a battle for the not only the US Open title on Sunday but for No. 1 in the world. Casper Ruud, the fifth seed, reached his second major final of the year on Friday when he beat No. 27 seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 in the semifinals of the US Open in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Ruud will be the first Norwegian male to play a major final.
The 23-year-old will play 19-year-old No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain who beat 22 seed, American Frances Tiafoe in the night session 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3.
Alcaraz will be the first teenager to reach a major final since Rafael Nadal in 2005.
The winner of Sunday’s match will rise to become the No. 1 ranked player.
The highlight of the match Ruud-Khachanov match was the 55-shot rally which gave Ruud the first set.
“It was another tough match, as we know,” Ruud said in his news conference. “Nerve-wracking start. We broke each other quite sometimes in the first set. I think that long rally on set point where I won the first set was a key to gain sort of strength and play well in the second.
“When you lose a first set like that, it’s tough to bounce back. That really helped for the second set.
“In the third set, Karen served well. I couldn’t return or make him play anything from his serves.
“In the fourth, I was able to return a little bit better again and play more for the rallies.
“Very happy with the performance and that I was able to bounce back after losing the third set.”
“I think I’ve never had a rally 55 shots,” the Russian said. “I think it’s a record obviously from my side. I don’t know about him. That was a crazy rally on the set point.
“My thoughts were actually that I’m in the game. I felt pumped in a way that we had this long rally, we were moving both. I felt like, Okay, it’s a painful one to lose a set with this point. On the other side I felt like, Okay, now we’re moving a lot, let’s keep on going.”
On why Ruud is such a tough player to beat, Khachanov said: “Well, he’s No. 2 in the world right now. That shows his improvement in a way. I mean, the main thing, obviously his consistency. His way of defending. As soon as you kind of pushing, give him the space to step in, he’s really fast to go around his forehand, play aggressive as well.
“He improved his serve a lot, as well. Return, he made a lot of returns in, even though I had a high percentage of serving. That’s always a question if the guy reads your serve well or you didn’t serve good enough. But the percentage was there.
“I would say he made me uncomfortable in some situations. He was returning many balls in play. I had to work on the point every time.”
Ruud was asked about playing Alcaraz for No. 1 in the final:
“I think if I want to beat Carlos, I’ll need to play very precise with all the shots that I hit, especially try to keep him a little bit further back in the court, to play with good depth and length on all my shots.
“If he steps in, he can do anything with the ball. He can rip a winner. He also has great touch with the dropshot. I think he has one of the best dropshots on tour. He can do both shots back and forth, it will sort of get you off guard sometimes with the dropshot.
“If you play with good depth and good length, it’s tougher to hit dropshots. That will be something that I will try to focus on.
“Yeah, we’re playing for the tournament and also world No. 1. Of course, there will be nerves and we will both feel it.
“I hope it will be a good match. He has beaten me a couple times and I will seek my revenge.”
It was a five-set battle in which Tiafoe saved a match point in the fourth set, and pushed the Spaniard to a fifth set.
“I gave everything I had. This one really, really hurts,” said Tiafoe in an on-court interview.
“I’m gonna come back and win this one day, I’m sorry guys.”
“A lot of different emotions right now,” Tiafoe reflected in hi s news conference:
“I mean, I just proved that honestly, I mean, I can play with the best obviously, and I’m capable of winning Grand Slams. I think everyone knew when I play my best what I could do. But you know how close I can actually be to be one of those guys and to do this consistently.
“Obviously through my career I’ve been pretty sporadic of playing well, veering off for a while. I’ve always backed myself against the best players in the world. I’m doing it on a consistent basis, starting to beat guys more readily. Ready to take the next step.
“I think rankings right now are honestly just a number. I really don’t care what anyone I’m playing. I feel like I can win any match.”
“When I was younger, I was a big student of the game. Just get my weaknesses better, just keep trying to get better.
“I always knew to put two weeks together is obviously the toughest thing in the world. That’s why only three guys were doing it for so long.
“After getting this deep, I understand how much rest is important during two weeks of slams. Again, I didn’t go out to dinner one time. Just resting. It’s tough. I mean, it’s definitely tough, three-out-of-five.
“I still have more in me if I had to play on Sunday. But, yeah, I mean, two weeks, three-out-of-five, is not easy. It’s a tough test.”
“It was incredible for me,” Alcaraz said to media. “I think I play great against Frances, who were playing unbelievable, as well, these two weeks. It’s an incredible feeling to be in a final, to be able to win this match, 4 hours, 20 minutes.”
As for playing Ruud in the finals, where he has a2-0 career head-to-head edge, Alcaraz said, “
“I played against him twice. I know him very well. We shared a lot of moments in the tournaments. Of course, he’s a very nice guy off the court. I talk with him a lot, when we can.
“But, yeah, on the court I know him. As I said, I played twice. I beat twice him. I mean, he’s playing really, really well. I know that. I will have to show my best.”
More to follow….
