Stefanos Tsitsipas of Athens, Greece won the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday. In the final, Tsitsipas, the 12th seed, defeated Norway’s Casper Ruud, the eighth seed, 6-1, 6-4.
The major difference in the match came in the return of serve. Both Tsitsipas and Ruud had eight break point opportunities. Tsitsipas broke Ruud four times while Ruud did not break Tsitsipas.
Ruud, the three-time grand slam finalist (2022 United States Open, 2022 French Open, and 2023 French Open), was one of four seeded players Tsitsipas beat at the Monte Carlo Masters. The 2021 French Open finalist and 2023 Australian Open finalist beat Alexander Zverev of Germany, the fifth seed and 2020 United States Open finalist, 7-5, 7-6 in the third round; Karen Khachanov of Russia, the 15th seed, 2022 United States Open semifinalist and 2023 Australian Open semifinalist, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals; and Jannik Sinner of Italy, the second seed and 2024 Australian Open champion, 6-4, 3-6. 6-4 in the semifinals.
One could argue there were two surprises in the Monte Carlo Masters semifinals. In addition to Tsitsipas beating Sinner, Ruud defeated the number one ranked player in the world, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. The match will be best remembered by Djokovic’s R-rated verbal outburst toward a spectator.
In an interesting statistic, Tsitsipas has won three ATP events at the Masters 1000 series level. All three wins have come in Monte Carlo. In 2021, Tsitsipas beat Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 6-3 in the final, and then in 2022, Tsitsipas defended his title. In the final, Tsitsipas defeated Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain, 6-3, 7-6. In all, Tsitsipas has now been victorious in 11 ATP tournaments.
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