Eighth seed Casper Ruud will face 12th seed Stefanos Tsitispas in the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters on Sunday, April 14.

Ruud entered the tournament on the back of a fourth-round exit at the Miami Open. He received a bye in the first round and started with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Alejandro Tabilo. The Norwegian then registered a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 victory over tenth seed Hubert Hurkacz to book his place in the quarterfinals.

Here, Ruud beat 14th seed Ugo Humbert 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to set up a semifinal clash against Novak Djokovic. The Norwegian won the opening set 6-4 in the semifinal before the Serb cruised through the second set to win it 6-1 and force the match into a decider. Ruud eventually won the last set 6-4 to register his first win over Djokovic in six appearances between the two.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is seeded 12th at the Monte-Carlo Masters and started the tournament with a win over Laslo Djere after the latter retired during the second set due to injury.

The Greek then thrashed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-1, 6-0 to reach the third round where he faced Alexander Zverev. Tsitsipas beat the German 7-5, 7-6(3) to book his place in the quarterfinals.

Here, he registered a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 win over 15th seed Karen Khachanov to set up a semifinal clash against second seed Jannik Sinner. The Greek started well and won the opening set 6-4 but the Italian bounced back to take the second set 6-3 and force the match into a decider.

Tsitsipas was a break down but he fought back to register a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win and reach his third final in Monte-Carlo.

Casper Ruud vs Stefanos Tsitsipas head-to-head

Ruud leads 2-1 in the head-to-head against Tsitsipas. Their most recent encounter came in the semifinals of the Los Cabos Open with the Norwegian winning 6-4, 7-6(4).

Casper Ruud vs Stefanos Tsitsipas odds

All odds are sourced from BETMGM.

Casper Ruud vs Stefanos Tsitsipas prediction

Both players have produced some impressive performances during the tournament but Stefanos Tsitsipas plays some of his best tennis in Monte-Carlo and knows how to win here. That said, Casper Ruud will be brimming with confidence following his win over Novak Djokovic.

The Norwegian is among the best clay-court players in the world but his mentality and resilience were what won him the semifinal against a mentality monster such as Djokovic.

Ruud has won 73% of his first serves (114 out of 156) so far in Monte-Carlo. The Norwegian also hit 83 winners compared to 35 unforced errors. He also has a pretty effective first serve that has earned him 17 aces so far in Monte-Carlo.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has a powerful serve and loves to play aggressively. The Greek has won 135 out of 182 points on his first serve so far at the Monte-Carlo Masters (74.1%). He produced 103 winners while accumulating 58 unforced errors.

Given the current form of both players, an exciting contest is on the cards but Ruud’s resilience should just about see him win his maiden Masters 1000 title.