Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece Wins Monte-Carlo Masters for the Third Time
The Greek defeated Casper Ruud of Norway in the 2024 final.
Two-time former winner Stefanos Tsitsipas, 25, has prevailed once again during the 2024 Monte-Carlo Masters. He defeated Casper Ruud of Norway, 25, to win the 1000-level title in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. The score in the final was 6-1 and 6-4 in favor of Tsitsipas. He previously won the title in 2021 and 2022.
This was the fourth match Ruud and Tsitsipas have played against each other on the ATP Tour - with Ruud leading 2-1 in their prior meetings. Notably, this was the first final they’ve contested. Today’s victory is the first title Tsitsipas has won on the 2024 ATP Tour and the eleventh title of his career in single’s competition. Moreover, this is the seventh 1000-level final he has reached and the third title he has claimed - all of which have been in Monte-Carlo. And finally, this is the fifth title he has taken from a clay court event.
Heading into this tournament, Ruud was ranked as the Number 10 tennis player on the 2024 ATP Tour, while Tsitsipas carried the Number 12 designation. By winning in Monte-Carlo, Tsitsipas has received 1,000 points in the overall rankings. Meanwhile, Ruud has picked up 650 points. Both players will again be in the Top 10 when the rankings update tomorrow.
Andrey Rublev of Russia (No. 6) was the tournament’s reigning champion. This year though, he lost against Alexei Popyrin of Australia (No. 46) in the second round. Ruud and Tsitsipas were the event’s eighth and twelfth seeds, respectively. The competition allowed the Top 8 seeds to advance directly to the second round.
Tsitsipas arrived in the final after winning against Laslo Djere of Serbia (No. 34), Tomás Martín Etcheverry of Argentina (No. 31), Alexander Zverev of Germany (No. 5), Karen Khachanov of Russia (No. 17), and Jannik Sinner of Italy (No. 2). He prevailed against the event’s second, fifth, eighth and fifteenth seeds to win the title.
In the other half of the main draw, Ruud defeated Alejandro Tabilo of Chile (No. 45), Hubert Hurkacz of Poland (No. 8), Ugo Humbert of France (No. 15), and Novak Djokovic of Serbia (No. 1). He knocked out the event’s first, tenth and fourteenth seeds to reach the final.
The revised rankings for the 2024 ATP Tour will be officially released on Monday, April 15. The tour will then play three tournaments between April 15 and 21: the Barcelona Open in Barcelona, Spain (an ATP 500 event), the Romanian Open in Bucharest, Romania (an ATP 250 event), and the Bavarian International Tennis Championships in Munich, Germany (an ATP 250 event). All three competitions will be played on clay courts.
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain (No. 3) is the two-time reigning champion at the Barcelona Open. He withdrew from the main draw this year due to an ongoing arm injury. Meanwhile, Fernando Verdasco of Spain (No. 781) is the reigning champion at the Romanian Open when the event was last held in 2016. He is currently inactive on the tour as he hasn’t played a match since August 2023. And finally, Holger Rune of Denmark (No. 7) is the two-time reigning champion at the Bavarian International Tennis Championships. He is trying to reclaim the title again as the event’s second seed this year.