RUUSUVUORI ON CUSP OF MAIDEN ELITE TOUR TITLE AFTER THREE-SET WIN OVER OFNER

Emil Ruusuvuori is one win from his first ATP Tour title after coming from behind to beat Sebastian Ofner in the semi-finals of the Bank of China Hong Kong Open yesterday.

In a game decided by a couple of points, the underrated Finnish player triumphed 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to book his spot in a final for the second time in his career. The pair exchanged breaks early on Centre Court, and Ofner struck again in the ninth game to snatch the opening set.

Ruusuvuori levelled the match with a break of his own in the 12th game of the following set, before breaking for good in the sixth game of the decider to seal the win in two hours and 13 minutes.

“Ofner has been very good the whole week so you know, against guys like that when the level is that high, it’s a matter of a couple of points,” Ruusuvuori said. “I had that one break point in the first but missed a too-easy backhand. In the second and third it was much better than in the first set in those couple of key points.”

Ruusuvuori, whose previous final appearance came almost two years ago in Pune, India, where he lost to Joao Sousa in three sets, needs only one more win to become just the second Finnish player, after Jarkko Nieminen, to record 100 tour level wins in the Open era. The 24-year-old will now face Andrey Rublev in today’s final, and the last time they played each other he came out on top after an epic battle over three hours and 17 minutes at the Cincinnati Masters last August. “That was one of the highlights last year after losing a couple of times before that to him,” Ruusuvuori said.

“It was a similar thing as with [Karen] Khachanov here after a couple of defeats. And then being able to get the win in a very difficult match like that gives you a lot of confidence and belief in yourself. Hopefully, I’ll do it again in the final.”