Casper Ruud rallies to defeat Jack Draper and claim Madrid Open title

The Norwegian battled past fifth seed Jack Draper 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to triumph inside the Caja Magica, having crucially rallied from 3-5 down to take the opening set.

Ruud had previously never won a title above ATP 500 level, with a string of defeats in 'big' finals across his career.

The Norwegian has lost three Grand Slam finals and was runner-up at the 2022 ATP Finals, with Masters final defeats at the 2022 Miami Open and 2024 Monte Carlo Masters.

Victory at the Madrid Open represents the biggest title of his career, and sees him become the third first-time Masters winner of 2025, following Draper (Indian Wells) and Jakub Mensik (Miami).

He also continues his string of trailblazing feats for Norwegian tennis, becoming his nation's first ever Masters 1000 champion.

Ruud started the clay-court swing seemingly with a comfortable cushion inside the top 10, with the Norwegian ranked as the world No 7 ahead of the Monte Carlo Masters.

After losing in round three in Monte Carlo, where he was defending finalist points, and tasting defeat in the quarter-final of his Barcelona Open title defence, Ruud found himself down at 15th in the ATP Rankings.

But, thanks to a career-best run in Madrid, the 26-year-old is set to leap eight spots up the ATP Rankings - and will return to world No. 7 on Monday.

Earning 1,000 ranking points for his triumph, an improvement on his 1000 fourth-round points from 2024, Ruud will soar to 3,715 ranking points when the ATP Rankings update.

That will move him ahead of current world No. 7 Alex de Minaur, who will hold 3,635 points on Monday.

With only second-round points to defend at the Italian Open, which gets underway this coming week, the Norwegian is now in pole position to seal a top-eight seeding for the French Open.

Being inside the top eight could prove crucial to his chances of winning a maiden major title; if he is inside the top eight, he will avoid a higher-ranked player until at least the quarter-final in Paris.

The seedings for the French Open will be based on the ATP Rankings once action is concluded in the Italian capital, with the rankings set to update post-event on Monday, May 19th.

Ruud was the runner-up at Roland Garros in 2022 and 2023 and also reached the semi-final in 2024, falling to Alexander Zverev.

He is also a three-time Italian Open semi-finalist, with the final Masters 1000 event of the clay swing underway this coming week.

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