ATP Finals 2021: Daniil Medvedev strolls past Casper Ruud in straight sets to reach summit clash

Turin: Daniil Medvedev booked his place in the final of the ATP Finals after cruising to a straight-sets 6-4, 6-2 win over Casper Ruud on Saturday. World number two Medvedev will face either Novak Djokovic or Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final at the Pala Alpitour in Turin after breezing to victory over Norwegian Ruud. Winner of the Finals last year, the 25-year-old has now won nine straight matches at the season-ending tournament and looked unruffled as he dealt with eighth seed Ruud, whose positive debut Finals comes to and end. “It was a great match because I felt that watching Casper this year he’s one of the smartest players on the tour," said Medvedev. “It’s a tough match no matter the score and I’m pleased that I managed to break him from time to time and this made the difference today.” Medvedev dropped just five points on his own serve on his way to claiming the first set, three of those coming in game four after he had already broken Ruud in the previous game. The fact that the Russian didn’t have to defend a single break point highlighted the easy dominance he held over Ruud. Medvedev ended Ruud’s brave resistance when he broke serve at the third attempt in a long game five of the second set, a 13-point exchange which put him in the perfect position to close out the match. He then cruised through his service game to make it 4-2 in the set and again piled the pressure on Ruud in the next game, eventually breaking again to set up an easy service game and close out the match.