Tennis in Italy

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Emil Ruusuvuori came back from the brink twice in quick succession to claim a remarkable first-round victory on Thursday at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

The Finn saved two match points before overcoming Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(6) at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome. Despite Humbert serving on both occasions, Ruusuvuori fended off the first at 4-5, 40/30 in the third set before repeating his escape when trailing the Frenchman 5/6 in the deciding tie-break.

Ruusuvuori ultimately closed out a thrilling three-hour triumph, in which both players broke their opponent’s serve five times, to book a second-round appointment against third seed Daniil Medvedev. The World No. 43 is now 15-12 for the season, a tally which includes reaching his maiden Masters 1000 quarter-final in Miami in March.

It was a third consecutive narrow victory for the Finn in his ATP Head2Head series with Humbert, who himself triumphed in a pair of marathon three-setters en route to the ATP Challenger Tour 175 title in Cagliari last week. Ruusuvuori triumphed in five sets in the duo’s maiden tour-level meeting at Roland Garros in 2022, before prevailing in a pair of tie-breaks against the Frenchman in Madrid just 15 days ago.

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Medvedev, ranked third in the ATP world rankings, defeated Ruusuvuuori, ranked 43rd, 6-4, 6-2 and advanced to the third round in a tournament filled with top players. 

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Daniil Medvedev is enjoying his victory at the Internazionali d'Italia after defeating Holger Rune 7-5, 7-5. It was a first for him, who admitted in his warm-up comments after the win in Rome that he didn't expect to get this far.

Especially when the victory came on clay, which he has never been comfortable with. "I always wanted to believe in myself and do my best. At the same time, however, I am surprised that I won the Masters 1000 tournament on clay," Medvedev admitted fresh after winning Rune.

Similarly, Ruusuvuori can be satisfied, however, because he lost to the winner of the tournament when he tried to continue playing in the tournament earlier.

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