🎾 ATP Madrid: Francisco Cerúndolo vs Casper Ruud – Match Preview
🧠 Form & Context
🇦🇷 Francisco Cerúndolo
- 💪 Gritty quarterfinal win: Overcame Miami Masters champion Jakub Mensik in a hard-fought three-set battle.
- 📈 Peak consistency: Leads the ATP Tour in match wins this season (24), underlining his rise as one of 2025’s most reliable performers.
- 🎯 Madrid milestone: First semifinal here, avoiding back-to-back QF exits and bettering his 2024 run.
- 🏆 Eyes on the prize: Still chasing his maiden Masters 1000 title—his only previous semifinal ended in defeat to Ruud (Miami 2022).
- 🔄 Top-20 resilience: Faced top-20 opponents 10 times in 2025, winning 5—proof he belongs at this level.
🇳🇴 Casper Ruud
- 🚨 Statement win: Dispatched world No. 4 Daniil Medvedev in straight sets to reach the semifinals, improving to 8–4 vs top-10 players since 2024.
- 🧱 Quarterfinal perfection: Now 7–0 in clay-court Masters QFs—one of the most reliable players at this stage on this surface.
- 🤕 Semifinal hurdle: Just 1–5 in Masters clay semifinals. His only win came against Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo (2024).
- 📉 Ranking rebound: Disappointing results in Monte Carlo and Barcelona saw him fall to No. 15, but he's now within one win of rejoining the top 10.
- 🔁 Experience edge: A proven big-stage competitor with three Grand Slam finals and four Masters 1000 finals to his name.
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