Casper Ruud successfully defends title to snap Matteo Berrettini streak

Casper Ruud has come from behind against Matteo Berrettini in a thrilling final between the top two seeds at the Swiss Open in Gstaad. 

The French Open finalist battled past Berrettini 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 to win a ninth career ATP title and third in 2022.

Eight of those nine titles have now come on clay, including four in Switzerland with two trophies each in Gstaad and Geneva in 2021 and 2022.

“I guess it’s the Swiss crowd, [they] help me a lot,” Ruud said to applause from the local fans after the win. “Switzerland is a country with a lot of history now in tennis with winning a lot of Grand Slams with of course Roger [Federer] and Stan [Wawrinka] the last 18, 19 years.

“They have been an inspiration to everyone around the world, including myself. They have been able to come from a small country, sort of like Norway, we’re not a very big country.

“Everything about Switzerland reminds me a little bit of Norway, except that you pay less taxes here,” he added as the crowd laughed.

Ruud is now 16-0 on Swiss soil with his four titles there as Switzerland continues to be a comfortable place to be for the star.

But the 23-year-old will not have much time to rest and rejoice now as he heads to Kitzbuhel next to put up yet another defence of a title he captured in 2021.

“There’s not too much time to celebrate,” Ruud admitted.

Ruud will drop slightly in the ATP rankings on Monday from fifth to sixth after Carlos Alcaraz reached the final of the 500 level Hamburg Open to guarantee a new career-high ranking.

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