Jack Draper’s breakthrough run on the clay courts of Madrid was halted at the final hurdle in a bruising, physical tussle against the 14th seed Casper Ruud, who held his nerve to win his first Masters 1000 title.
A two-time French Open finalist, Ruud was competing in the seventh significant final of his career. He had lost all six of those previous matches, including both those Paris finals in 2022 and 2023, the 2022 US Open final and the ATP finals. He has, at last, clinched one of the biggest titles in the game.
