Bastad, Jul 22 (IANS): Casper Ruud reached his third tour-level final of the season on Saturday when he overcame Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-5 at the Nordea Open, here.

Competing on the clay at the ATP 250 event, Ruud caused Musetti problems with his weight and depth of shot. The Norwegian struck his groundstrokes with heavy topspin and earned the decisive break of the second set in the 11th game to advance after one hour and 46 minutes.

The top seed Ruud is a former champion in Bastad, having triumphed in 2021. He will compete for his second title at the tournament and 11th overall when he meets Francisco Cerundolo or Andrey Rublev in the final.

With his 20th tour-level win of the season on clay, Ruud improved to 1-1 in his Lexus ATP head-to-head series against Musetti. Earlier this season, the 24-year-old captured his 10th tour-level trophy and ninth on clay in Estoril.

On the other hand, the 21-year-old Italian Musetti was chasing his first title of the season. Last year, he triumphed at tour-level events in Hamburg and Naples.