Casper Ruud reached the final of the Italian Open on Friday

Rome (AFP) - Casper Ruud reached the final of the Italian Open on Friday after dismantling Italy’s Luciano Darderi 6-1, 6-1 in a rain-interrupted match and setting up a potential title showdown with Jannik Sinner.

Norwegian Ruud, a specialist on clay, dealt with flamboyant Darderi with the minimum of fuss, even after having to wait nearly two hours to restart a match he was already winning easily.

A huge downpour paused, but had no impact on, Ruud’s march to his first final since winning in Stockholm in October last year.

“It’s my 10th semi-final I think in a Masters 1000 and it was his first so you try to use that experience to your advantage and I think I did that well today,” said Ruud.

“He was maybe a little bit stressed, a little bit nervous of the occasion, but I tried to stay focused and kind of in my own tunnel vision.”

When play was stopped Ruud was 4-1 up and at advantage in game six of the first set, which he immediately won after the restart on centre court in Rome.

Not including the rain interruption Ruud took little more than an hour to see off Darderi to win an tour-leading 140th match on clay since the start of 2020, in which time he has won more tournaments on the surface than any other ATP player.

Such was the comprehensive nature of his victory there will only be a small delay to Sinner’s semi-final against Daniil Medvedev which was scheduled to start no earlier than 7.00pm local time (1700GMT).

Rudd hasn’t won a single set in any of his four matches with Sinner, who destroyed him 6-0, 6-1 in the last eight here last year in one of the most one-sided matches ever seen at the Foro Italico.

“It will be a tough match no matter who it is, either it will be a guy who cannot lose it seems like or it will be Daniil who won this tournament before, so both are great players,” added Ruud.

“If it’s Jannik it will be another test for me and hopefully I can get some sort of revenge from from last time we played.”

Sinner is hunting a record-extending sixth straight Masters 1000 tournament victory but seventh seed Medvedev will be by far his toughest opponent in what has been a near stroll into the semi-finals.

The 24-year-old is heavy favourite to become the first Italian to win the Rome title in five decades, ahead of a potential career Grand Slam at the French Open.