Casper Ruud reached the French Open final for the 2nd year in a row, defeating German 22nd seed Alexander Zverev 6-3 6-4 6-0 on Friday to set up a showdown with 22-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
Ruud, last year’s runner-up, swapped early breaks with Zverev before turning up the heat on a warm evening on Court Philippe Chatrier by pounding the German with some vicious, spin-heavy forehands to go up 5-2 en route to claiming the opening set.
Zverev, who was competing in his third consecutive Roland Garros semifinal at the scene of his season-ending ankle injury last year, blew an early opportunity in the following set and fell into trouble as the fourth seed Ruud grabbed another break in the seventh game.
Ruud kept his advantage in the match and proceeded to control the rallies from behind the baseline in the next set, frustrating an error-prone Zverev before storming into his third Grand Slam final in 5 events going back to Roland Garros 2022.