ROME (AP) 鈥� Casper Ruud maintained his focus during a nearly two-hour rain delay to rout home player Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1 and reach the final for the first time on Friday.
The match was suspended with Ruud leading 4-1 in the first set.
In Sunday鈥檚 final on the red clay of the Foro Italico, Ruud will face top-ranked or former No. 1 Daniil Medvedev, who were playing later.
Coco Gauff will play Elina Svitolina in the women鈥檚 final on Saturday.
Rome is the last big warmup before the French Open starts in nine days.
Ruud has reached two finals at Roland Garros, losing to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Novak Djokovic in 2023.
Ruud was once ranked as high as No. 2. He鈥檚 now No. 25 but will return to the top 20 on Monday. He has dropped only one set in Rome this year 鈥� to Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals.
The 20th-ranked Darderi, who was born in Argentina to a family of Italian descent, saved four match points in a three-set win over Alexander Zverev in the fourth round then won another marathon match against Rafael Jodar in a .
___
AP tennis:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
