Jodar Beats Ruud to Reach Shanghai Semifinals
Rafael Jodar of Spain came back from a set down to beat Casper Ruud 4–6, 6–4, 6–3; at 20, he is the youngest semifinalist in the event's history.
Rafael Jodar of Spain came back from a set down to beat Casper Ruud of Norway 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 and reach the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters. At 20, he is the youngest semifinalist in the event's history.
Ruud took the first set with a break in the 10th game and broke early in the second. Jodar broke back, broke again for 5–4 and served out the set without losing a point. He broke three more times in the third set and won in 2 hours 20 minutes. It was the first meeting between the two.
Jodar, ranked 13th, is in his first full season on the men's tour and has won 42 matches this year. The win moved him to ninth in the season standings for the ATP Finals in Turin. Because Jannik Sinner has ended his season with an injury, ninth is currently a qualifying place.
On Saturday he plays the winner of the quarterfinal between Daniil Medvedev and Tommy Paul. In the other semifinal, Alexander Zverev, the top seed, plays Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Rafael Jodar of Spain came back from a set down to beat Casper Ruud of Norway 4–6, 6–4, 6–3 and reach the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters. At 20, he is the youngest semifinalist in the event's history.
Ruud broke Jodar's serve in the 10th game to take the first set. He broke again early in the second, and Jodar broke back to level it at 2–2.
From there Jodar's forehand took over the rallies. He broke for 5–4 and served out the set without losing a point. In the third set he broke Ruud three more times.
Ruud is ranked 24th. Jodar finished with five breaks of serve in the last two sets and won in 2 hours 20 minutes. Jodar hit six aces and no double faults. Ruud hit 10 aces and five double faults. It was the first time the two had played.
"I was feeling great on court. I think it was a very close match," Jodar said. "Casper, I think, played the important points in the first set better than me. I couldn't win the break points because of his serve, so I knew I wanted to come back again. It was very tough, so I had to give my best level today to win this match."
Jodar is ranked 13th in the world and is in his first full season on the men's tour. He has won 42 matches and lost 16 this year. He has reached five semifinals, two of them at events of this size, in Montreal and Shanghai. He has won 10 of 12 matches against players ranked in the top 30 since the start of July.
The win lifted him above Novak Djokovic and Alex de Minaur to ninth in the season standings for the ATP Finals in Turin. The top eight qualify. Jannik Sinner, who is second, has ended his season with an injury, so ninth is currently a qualifying place. Medvedev is the player directly above him in the standings.
"I'm super happy how the season is going," Jodar said. "Very high level, but still a lot of things to improve, which is very good because that means I can become a better player in the future. I just want more things. It's the first year on Tour and there are still a few tournaments, so I will try to give my best in the matches I have left this season."
On Saturday he plays the winner of the quarterfinal between Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Tommy Paul of the United States.
The other semifinal is Alexander Zverev of Germany, the top seed, against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain.
Zverev beat de Minaur 6–4, 6–4 and hit 10 aces. Davidovich Fokina went through when Arthur Gea of France retired with a hip injury while trailing 4–1 in the first set.
With Jodar and Davidovich Fokina both through, the ATP said it was only the fifth time since 2014 that more than one Spaniard had reached the semifinals of the same event of this size.
Zverev is the only one of the top four seeds left in the draw. Carlos Alcaraz lost to Zizou Bergs in the third round, and Felix Auger-Aliassime retired against Ruud in the fourth round.