Ruud seals final spot in Barcelona

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Another week, another final on the ATP Tour for Casper Ruud.

The third seed advanced to his fourth title match of the year on Saturday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he moved past Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-6(6), 6-4.

In a hard-fought clash on Pista Rafa Nadal, Ruud saved one set point on serve in the first-set tie-break at 5/6 before he recovered from squandering a break advantage in the second set to triumph after one hour and 58 minutes at the ATP 500.

"Tomas is a fantastic player," Ruud said. "He has improved a lot in the past two, three years. I have a lot of respect for him. He could have easily won the first set today. I had some set points and he had one. I am very happy with the level. I think it was a high quality match, the best level I have played in Barcelona."

Ruud arrived in Barcelona off the back of a run to his second ATP Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo last week. The 25-year-old also reached title matches in Los Cabos and Acapulco earlier this year but is searching for his first trophy on the ATP Tour since last April when he won in Estoril.

The No. 6 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has won nine of his 10 tour-level titles on clay. He will aim to improve that record when he meets Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final. The Greek defeated the Norwegian in the Monte-Carlo title match last week.

After failing to qualify for last year's Nitto ATP Finals, Ruud looks in good shape to qualify for this year's event. The Norwegian is third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.