Ruud sinks Arnaldi in Barcelona

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Is this the week Casper Ruud wins his first title of the season?

The Norwegian cruised past 23-year-old Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-3 on Friday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to reach the semi-finals at the ATP 500 clay-court event.

Ruud arrived in Barcelona off the back of a run to the final at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and has looked impressive again this week in Spain. The third seed hit with clean timing off both wings against Arnaldi and dug deep when serving for the match at 5-3, saving four break points to eventually advance after one hour and 34 minutes.

"It is not easy. You are playing for a spot in the semi-finals," Ruud said when he was asked about serving out the match. "It is something I have not been able to do before in Barcelona. I was getting a bit nervous, which is normal. I was able to come through in the end after a few crazy rallies and didn't get the best start in the game but got back in it.

"It was a difficult match. It was back and forth in the beginning, a lot of breaks in the beginning. Feeling our games. I was lucky to break him towards the end of the [first set] and the second set was really tough. Long games and close games and lucky in the end I can stand here as the winner."

Ruud has earned a Tour-leading 27 wins this season but is still seeking his first tour-level crown since last April when he lifted the trophy in Estoril. The 25-year-old has won nine of his 10 tour-level trophies on clay and will meet Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the semi-finals.

Earlier, Argentine Etcheverry clawed past Cameron Norrie 7-6(4), 7-6(1) to reach his first ATP 500 semi-final.

The 24-year-old won 55 per cent (16/29) of points on Norrie’s serve, while he found greater consistency in both tie-breaks to advance after two hours and 32 minutes. With his 11th tour-level win of the season, Etcheverry has levelled his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Norrie at 1-1.

Etcheverry is chasing his first tour-level trophy this week. The No. 30 player in the PIF ATP Rankings is into his fifth tour-level semi-final and second this season having advanced to the last four on clay in Houston, where he lost to eventual champion Ben Shelton.