World No 1 Jannik Sinner moved to within two games of the Italian Open final against Casper Ruud before heavy rain suspended his semi-final against Daniil Medvedev on Friday, with the home favourite leading 6-2 5-7 4-2.
Play will resume Saturday at 2pm BST, ahead of the women’s singles final between Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina (not before 4pm) – live on Sky Sports Tennis.
Victory for Sinner in Rome would see the 24-year-old move alongside Novak Djokovic as the only other player to win all nine ATP Masters 1000 events for a Career Golden Masters.
Sinner opened the semi-final in front of a fervent Campo Centrale by playing perfect tennis – missing just three first serves in the first four games – before sealing the set in double-quick time.
It seemed unlikely Medvedev would be able to turn the match on its head until a drop in intensity from the Italian allowed his opponent to surge ahead with chances to increase his lead to 4-0. But Sinner hit back, despite looking ragged in between points.
The set appeared to be heading into a tie-break until Medvedev took advantage of a struggling Sinner, who struggled to catch his breath after points, bending over to try to recover several times, to force a decider.
Sinner struggled to catch his breath after points in the second set
It looked like Sinner’s chase for his sixth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 title was in jeopardy when he called his medical team for cramps.
He then appeared rejuvenated and responded immediately in the third, securing an early break to ignite the crowd and seize control of the match.
Play was then halted with rain pouring down in Rome and organisers later announced the match would resume on Saturday.
Ruud reaches first Rome final
Casper Ruud raced into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final, where he stormed past a fatigued Luciano Darderi
The winner will face Norway’s Casper Ruud in the final after the Norwegian maintained his focus during a nearly two-hour rain delay to rout home player Luciano Darderi 6-1 6-1 and reach the final for the first time.
The match was suspended with Ruud leading 4-1 in the first set by a two-hour rain delay.
On resumption, the Norwegian won five of the next six points to wrap up the set before racing into a 4-0 lead in the second set and while Darderi provided some resistance on return, he was unable to take a break-point lifeline opportunity, with Ruud rolling onto victory.
The 20th-ranked Darderi, who was born in Argentina to a family of Italian descent, saved four match points in a three-set win over Alexander Zverev in the fourth round then won another marathon match against Spaniard Rafael Jodar in a quarter-final clash that ended at 2am.
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Highlights of Ruud against Darderi from the Italian Open
“It feels great,” Ruud said. “I am a bit sorry for Luciano, playing at home and not with the most energy, but it is understandable.
“What a tournament he has had and luckily for me I was done much earlier that day and had a little more time to recover. It is my 10th semi-final at a 1000 and his first, so you try to use that experience to your advantage and I think I did well today.”
Ruud has reached two finals at the French Open, losing to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and Novak Djokovic in 2023.
Rome is the last big warm-up before the second Grand Slam of the year starts on Sunday, May 24.
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