Tennis | The wild battle of Ruusuvuori sealed the big surprise: Finland defeated the United States in the Davis Cup

Split

In Croatian it was a wild day of celebration for the Finns at the tennis arena on Saturday. Otto Virtanen and Emil Ruusuvuoren amazing wins from the USA, who entered the match as pre-favorites, meant that Finland secured the Davis Cup victory over the USA even before the doubles.

The victory meant that Finland advanced to the top eight of the Davis Cup. The final tournament will be played in Malaga at the end of November.

Otto Virtanen knocked down in the first match of the day Mackenzie McDonald and Ruusuvuori nujersi ranked 13th in the world Tommy Paul’s.

After a 2.5-hour thriller, Virtanen defeated McDonald’s set 7–6 (7–5), 1–6, 7–6 (9–7). Ruusuvuori, on the other hand, defeated Pauli’s set 7–6, 6–4.

Ruusuvuori already had three match points in his own pass in the second set at 5–3, but a double fault and two misses that were barely wide moved the decision to Paul’s serving turn. In that, Ruusuvuori was superior and sealed the Finns’ day of joy.

“It was a bit tight. You have to play really precise tennis against Tommy, he is so fast,” Ruusuvuori reflected in the court interview after the match.

“The pressure was intense. I hadn’t played for a few weeks before coming here. I wasn’t in good shape at the beginning of the tournament, and today was physically difficult at the beginning. You just had to be mentally tough.”

Hundreds of Finnish fans created the impression that the match had been played in the blue and whites’ homeland.

“This means a lot to our entire country and to Finnish tennis. We showed how strong this team is. Now we’re going to Malaga.”

First Finns shouted Virtanen, who won all three of his matches in Split.

“Intake

“The reason for my Davis Cup vibe must be the t-shirt I’m wearing. It says Finland on the back,” said Virtanen in a field interview.

“The atmosphere was absolutely fantastic. It felt like the whole of Finland was behind me. It gave me a lot of extra energy.”

Additional energy came in handy, because there were enough twists and turns in the match between Virtanen and McDonald.

Virtanen is talking about a roller coaster.

In the opening set, the duo played a very high-quality game: the Finn overwhelmed the opponent, especially with his strong serve and his palm, which was finally enough to win the set.

In the second set, the Finn “ceded” to McDonald, almost in favor, after the American had broken Virtanen’s pass.

At that point, the younger Virtanen would often have let the whole match go.

“The big change is definitely that I mentally get over bad scores and sets. Knows and feels that he can beat anyone.”

In the final set, the level of the game and Virtanen rose again. The match stretched into a thriller, where the players broke each other’s serves and stretched each other to more impressive performances.

Virtanen got himself a match point in the 6–5 situation, but the whip remained in the net.

McDonald, on the other hand, had two match points in the cutoff game. The second match point in particular was a magical save from Virtanes, when a palm hit from a difficult spot waved past the American.

“He attacked the palm, which was fine with me. It wasn’t an easy shot, but my only possible shot. This time it worked.”

However, after the dramatics, the tiebreak finally turned in Virtanen’s favor 9–7.

In the decisive match point, Virtanen glanced at the bench, where the doubles champion, who is assisting in the coaching Henri Kontinen showed where the serve should be hit.

“I looked at Henkka, and I understood his instructions correctly. On the first pass, there was a net strip, so I got another number one. I looked at Henka again. The job was clear: the ball into the outer corner.”

“It brought victory.”