Tennis: In San Diego Ruud bends Dimitrov and sees the ATP Finals

Ruud-Norrie will be the final of the San Diego tournament. After three very hard-fought sets – 6-4 4-6 6-4 – Ruud beat Grigor Dimitrov to win number 46 of the season. For the Norwegian it is a step forward in the race to the ATP Finals: now he is 8th and with a win he would approach seventh place. The points advantage over Sinner (currently tenth) remains 425. And his rival, Cameron Norrie, is also in contention to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin (November 14-21).

At the service

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“To beat Dimitrov you have to play well from all corners of the pitch and run well, he can hit winners from all sides,” Ruud said. “I tried to hold on and I scored a couple of important points which in the end gave me the victory in a high level match from the first to the last point. I’m happy to have won my first final on hardcourt.” Both struggled to serve – there were 11 breaks, 4 in a row at the start of the first set – but Dimitrov lost his serve in the sixth game of the third set after taking a 30-0 lead.

What Norrie

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The surprise came in the first semifinal with Cameron Norrie’s success over Andrey Rublev in three sets (3-6 6-3 6-4). “He beat me easily last time, so it’s nice to see that I’ve improved a bit,” commented Norrie, who had only won 3 games in their only previous one in St. Petersburg last year. Norrie, 41-19 on the winning and losing record in 2021, had lost five of her last six games prior to this week. It was the Briton’s second win over a Top 5 opponent, following his victory over then world number 4 Dominic Thiem earlier this year in Lyon. To keep hoping for the ATP Finals now Norrie should win the tournament.