Casper Ruud achieved the biggest win of his career by defeating Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters. Coming into the match, Ruud had never won a set against Djokovic in their previous five encounters. This time, however, the Norwegian broke Djokovic’s serve twice in the opening set. Although the World No. 1 fought back to break Ruud’s serve twice in the second set, Ruud managed to keep his composure and break Djokovic once more to win the match 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Delighted by his victory over the 24-time Grand Slam champion, Ruud admitted in a post-match interview that he was somewhat in shock. He also described how the deciding set was filled with nerves and pressure from Djokovic’s relentless counterattack.
With this win, Ruud has become the first Norwegian man to defeat a World No. 1 in a tour-level match and has also reached his first ever Masters-1000 final. His next match will be against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the title contest at the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters on April 14. So far, Ruud has defeated Alejandro Tabilo, No. 10 Hubert Hurakcz, Ugo Humbert, and Novak Djokovic to reach the final, and is aiming to end a year-long trophy drought. He currently holds a 2-1 head-to-head advantage against Tsitsipas.
