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The world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas will face the world No. 27 Holger Rune in the finals of the Stockholm Open on Sunday.
The top seed has won 7 out of his last 8 matches. Stefanos Tsitsipas managed to reach his second consecutive final and would be quietly confident about his chances of bagging his third title this season.
After receiving a first-round bye, Tsitsipas won a tight match against America’s Maxime Cressy in straight sets 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (14-12). In the quarter-finals, home-favorite Mikael Ymer gave a good account of himself in the first set but could not get the win. Tsitsipas showed his class in the second set to come out victorious in straight sets 7-5, 6-3. In the semi-finals, the 24-year-old faced an impressive Emil Ruusuvuori. The Finnish No. 1, however, was completely outplayed by the pre-tournament favorite. Tsitsipas won the match 6-2, 6-2.
The 19-year-old is on the lookout for his second tour-level title this season. He reached his third final in 2022 on the back of some scintillating performances that required him to show tremendous guts and determination in crucial phases. The youngster showed maturity beyond his age to hold his nerves in crunch moments.
The seventh seed went past Thiago Monteiro in straight sets in the first round. Cristian Garin gave Rune a good run for his money in the first set in the round of 16. However, the Polish youngster managed to win the set and the second set was a one-sided affair. The match ended 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 in favor of Rune. In the quarter-finals, Rune came back from a set down to defeat the British No. 1 Cameron Norrie 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3. The semi-finals saw Rune take on an in-form Alex de Minaur. The Australian youngster won the second set but Rune dug deep to eke out a hard-fought 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 win in a match that lasted almost 3 hours.
The head-to-head scoreline currently stands at 1-0 in favor of the Polish star. He defeated Tsitsipas in the 2022 French Open in four sets.
Prediction: Stefanos Tsitsipas to win in three sets.
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