Sawt Falasteen - Rune rallies past Ruud to reach Italian Open final

The 20-year-old Dane overhauled the Norwegian who played the French Open final a year ago against Rafael Nadal and has two semi-finals in Rome.

Rune will bid for the title on Sunday against the winner from Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who were playing their semi-final later despite a lengthy interruption for rain which has plagued the event all week.

The pair were taken off court with eight games played at 4-4 in the first set and spent several hours in the locker room.

They then re-emerged in the evening but were only able to play one game before being sent off court due to more rain.

Play resumed after a total of four and a half hours of delays, but the fate of the evening women's final between Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and Anhelina Kalinina remains in doubt for Saturday due to changing conditions.

Ruud's defeat was his first in five meetings with his rival, with all of their matches being played on clay.

Rune, who knocked out top seed Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals, said that he relaxed when he thought all was lost on court.

"When I was down, I told myself I had nothing to lose, he would probably win," the world number seven said.

"I told myself to play freely, play aggressive as it would likely be my last set. That was the key to the comeback - I'm super-happy."

Rune said his game has lifted at the best moments this week in Rome.

"I've played some of my best tennis in the last two matches. It's so difficult to play the top guys, I had to find my best tennis.

"I only found it at the end, that's how I was able to turn it around."

- Medical timeout -

Ruud needed 69 minutes to win a grinding first set with the Norwegian dominating the tiebreaker to take the early lead after failing to convert on three break points in the sixth game.

Rune, occasionally something of a loose cannon with his outbursts of temper, began to unravel slightly in the second set with Ruud holding his nerve as the deadlock continued.

The youngster lost serve to trail 2-3 and suddenly called for the physio, who treated his right shoulder for the three-minute medical timeout.

But that pause may have turned the match around, with Rune suddenly coming to life as he levelled at a set apiece and ran away with the third to advance in a light drizzle.

Rune closed out victory in just under two and three-quarter hours when he broke Ruud for a fourth time.

The Dane will be playing his eighth ATP final (4-3) and his third this season.

He won in Paris Bercy last November and was runner-up to Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo in April.

"It was a well-played match until maybe the third set. I didn't play too well unfortunately," Ruud said.

"There were some great rallies. I think we both like to run around on clay. Holger plays very aggressively."

He added: "I'm going to try to erase this from my memory as quickly as possible."

Z.Ramadan--SF-PST