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Rising Finnish star Emil Ruusuvuori says he really likes Pune as he is hoping to land his maiden ATP title this week. Ruusuvuori, 22, defeated Kamil Majchrzak 6-3 7-6 (0) in the Pune semifinal. It was Ruusuvuori's fourth straight-set win in Pune.
Ruusuvuori is set to battle Portugal's Joao Sousa in the Pune final. “I really like this place,” Ruusuvuori said in his on-court interview, according to the ATP website. “I still haven’t lost a set.
The whole match was very good today and I am very happy to be in the final. Every point in the tie-break is very important. I started well and 7/0 is good”.
Ruusuvuori escaped with a straight-set win
Ruusuvuori saved four break points in the eighth game of the first set, before realizing his first break point in that game to claim the first break of the match.
After claiming the first break of the match, Ruusuvuori routinely served out for the first set in the ninth game. Majchrzak earned his first break points of the match in the fourth game of the second set but Ruusuvuori saved two break points to level the set at four games apiece.
Ruusuvuori then had two break points in the fifth game but failed to convert. Majchrzak earned his first break of the match in the eighth game but then failed to serve out for the set in the following game. Ruusuvuori had a break point in the 11th game but Majchrzak saved to go 6-5 up in the second set.
Ruusuvuori served out the 12th game to force a tie-break, in which he didn't drop a single point to complete a straight-set win. Ruusuvuori's strong week in Pune shouldn't come as a surprse as the Finn showed good level of tennis in his first tournament of the season at the Melbourne Summer Set.
Ruusuvuori made the Melbourne Summer Set semifinal, before losing to Rafael Nadal. After the match, Nadal spoke positively of Ruusuvuori. It remains to be seen if Ruusuvuori can win his maiden ATP title in Pune.