NORWEGIAN rising star, Casper Ruud is hoping to make it two titles in a month when he goes out on court for the final of the Chile Open. The world number 38 reached his second final in three tournaments after winning the Argentina Open a couple of weeks earlier. He was able to see off his greatest challenge to date in the Chile Open semi-finals, defeating Spain’s third seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets.

The first set was a nail-biter with Ruud only just getting home in a 7-5 tiebreaker, before running away with the contest 6-2 in the second to win in just under two hours. Ruud served four aces, and while his serve was inconsistent (57 per cent), his first serve was hard to beat, dropping just five points at an elite 86 per cent success rate. He also broke twice from eight opportunities while not giving Ramos-Vinolas a chance to do the same. The Spaniard was better off his second serve, winning 65 per cent of points, while his first serve was a lower 58 per cent. Now Ruud takes on a much lower ranked Thiago Seyboth Wild.

Seyboth Wild has enjoyed a strong tournament coming in as a Brazilian wildcard, ranked 182nd at the start of the tournament. He reached the final with a 6-1 6-3 beating of Argentinian qualifier, Renzo Olivo who was another surprise packet in the final four. While not serving an ace for the match, Seyboth Wild won 73 per cent of his first serve points and 61 per cent of his second serve points, saving all three break point opportunities for his opponent. By contrast, the Brazilian broke four times from an impressive 14 chances to make it through to the last match of the tournament. He has already moved 51 spots up the ATP Tour rankings with his claycourt season, moving up to 131st in the world.

SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:

[2] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated [3] Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 7-6 6-2
Thiago Seyboth Wild (BRA) defeated [Q] Renzo Olivo (ARG) 6-1 6-3