Casper Ruud barely broke a sweat. The Norwegian dismantled Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1 in the Internazionali d'Italia semifinal to reach his first-ever Rome final, moving within one victory of a second Masters 1000 crown after Monte-Carlo 2024.
The contest was one-sided from the outset. Ruud broke Darderi's opening service game and never looked back, delivering relentless baseline tennis that suffocated the Italian's attacking instincts. The first set lasted barely thirty minutes. The second followed the same pattern, Ruud racing to 4-0 before closing out the match without a hint of trouble.
Darderi paid the price of an exhausting week. The Italian had saved four match points against Alexander Zverev in the third round, then ground out a 2 AM three-set victory over Rafael Jodar in the quarterfinals. Nine hours on court across four matches proved too much against Ruud's freshness.
Ruud now becomes the sixth active player to contest a final at all three clay-court Masters 1000 events: Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome. He awaits the winner of the Jannik Sinner vs Daniil Medvedev semifinal, suspended by rain on Friday evening (ATP Tour).
