Rune turned around a badly started match to claim his first win against the Norwegian, after four defeats in as many encounters. He will face in Sunday's final Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas (N.5), last year's finalist, or Russia's Daniil Medvedev (N.3), who face each other in the afternoon.

Eight days before the start of Roland-Garros, the young Dane (20), who fell to defending champion Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals, confirms his meteoric rise.

He will play in Rome his third final in four tournaments on ochre this season, after the Masters 1000 of Monte-Carlo (defeat against Andrey Rublev) and the ATP 250 of Munich (victory against Botic van de Zandschulp, his fourth title).

Under a light Roman rain, Ruud was able to control the passion of Rune for a set and a half, not conceding a single break ball thanks to a first ball at the rendezvous and running to all legs to pick the many cushioned attempts by the Dane.

At this rate, the finalist of the last Roland-Garros already seemed to have a foot in the final when he broke in the second set to lead 4-2, after taking the first set thanks to a perfectly controlled decisive game.

But it was the moment Rune chose to raise his level of play, after having his right shoulder massaged for a few minutes - a break that did him the greatest good.

Norway's Casper Ruud had, for a time, control of his match against Denmark's Holger Rune, before losing in the semifinals of the Masters 1000 in Rome, Saturday, May 20, 2023 in the Italian © capital Tiziana FABI /

"At that moment, I told myself that I had nothing to lose, that it was probably my last set here, that I had to play free, and that's what I did," Rune said after the match.

The explosive Dane finally had a break ball, his first of the match, which he did not miss to get back to 4-4. Another match then began between a totally revived and aggressive Rune and a Ruud no longer finding the angles, caught up by the fear of losing after having already failed twice in the semis in Rome, in 2020 and 2022.

Tornado Rune followed in a one-way third run to complete his qualification in 2:43, racing to the final in Rome for his first participation in the main draw.

© 2023 AFP