The final at the ATP Pune Open is set and after two years, there will be a new champion. Will it be the young up-and-comer Emil Ruusuvuori or the veteran trying to return to the top 100 Joao Sousa? As always, we here at LWOT are offering our preview and prediction. Who do you think will take the title?
ATP Pune Final Prediction
Emil Ruusuvuori vs Joao Sousa
Head-to-head: Ruusuvuori 2-0 Sousa
An exciting match-up here to finish off this fun week in Pune. The 22-year-old Ruusuvuori is in his first final on the ATP Tour, potentially achieving a new career-high ranking if he wins the title. For Sousa, this is will be his 11th ATP-level final, the first since 2018. Ruusuvuori has been very impressive this year from his semifinal run at the 250 in Melbourne to pushing Felix Auger-Aliassime to five sets at the Australian Open. The Finn has been stellar in his run in Pune, beating Egor Gerasimov, Vit Kopriva, defending champion Jiri Vesely, and is still yet to drop a set even after his semifinal win over Kamil Majchrzak.
Sousa has been the exact opposite, having a mediocre 4-4 start to the season with wins over Manuel Guinard, Marc Polmans, Franco Agamenone, and Constant Lestienne, opposition he should be beating. His run in Pune has also been much more difficult, having to come back from a set down in three of his four matches against Arjun Kadhe, Gianluca Mager, and most recently in a three-hour semifinal battle against Elias Ymer. The 32-year-old’s only straight-set win came in the quarterfinals against Daniel Altmaier.
Though Sousa has been in these moments before and holds much more experience than the 22-year-old, I trust Ruusuvuori here. The head-to-head is 2-0 in the Finn’s favor, though their first meeting lasted only two games before Sousa retired and their second one was on grass, so they are not really relevant in evaluating this match-up. What makes me believe in Ruusuvuori here has been his form and relative freshness compared to Sousa, spending only six hours and five minutes on court this week compared to the Portuguese’s over nine hours. This title would set up Ruusuvuori for a nice push towards the Top 50 in the upcoming months as he does not have much to defend until the summer while making him the first Finnish player to win an ATP title since Jarkko Nieminen in 2012.
Prediction: Ruusuvuori in 2
Main photo:
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