Emil Ruusuvuori

Emil Ruusuvuori (; born 2 April 1999) is a Finnish professional tennis player. He reached a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 41 on 31 October 2022. He is currently the No. 1 Finnish singles tennis player. He has a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 179 achieved on 2 May 2022.

As a junior, Ruusuvuori was ranked as high as World No. 4 in the ITF combined junior rankings. In 2017, he reached the singles quarterfinals of the Australian Open boys' singles, the singles semifinals of the US Open boys' singles, and won the ITF Junior Masters.

Ruusuvuori has also represented Finland in the Davis Cup, where he has a win–loss record of 5–5. In September 2019, he defeated reigning world number 5 and 2-time Roland Garros finalist Dominic Thiem in straight sets in a Davis Cup singles rubber.

Junior career

2013–2016: Early junior career

At the age of 14, nine years after he first began playing tennis, Ruusuvuori entered his first ITF Juniors tournament, the Nokia Junior Cup, in 2013. 2014 offered his first success, reaching two singles finals, two doubles finals, and winning two doubles titles. He saw additional success in 2015, including one final in both singles and doubles as well as another doubles title. Ruusuvuori made his singles breakthrough in 2016, winning four events in total. He continued his doubles success as well, winning three events and reaching the finals of two more.

2017: Junior Grand Slam debut and first ITF Futures title

Ruusuvuori started his year in January at the AGL Loy Yang Traralgon Junior International, reaching the semifinals in both the doubles, with partner Michael Vrbenský of the Czech Republic, and singles. He then entered the Australian Open, his debut grand slam event, participating in both the boys' singles and doubles. In singles, he won his first three matches in straight sets before losing to Corentin Moutet in the quarterfinals. Partnering again with Vrbensky, he lost in the first round of the doubles.

February saw Ruusuvuori compete in his first Davis Cup match, losing to Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in straight sets.

In March, he competed in the Croatia F3 Futures event in Umag, losing in the first round of singles qualifying. Ruusuvuori then returned to the junior tour, competing in the 33. Perin Memorial, where he reached the finals in singles, losing to Alen Avidzba of Russia in two sets.

After not seeing competition in April 2017, Ruusuvuori returned in May, participating in the Italy F13 Futures event, where he lost in the third round of singles qualifying. He then competed in the 58th Trofeo Bonfiglio junior event, losing in the first round of both singles and doubles.

In June, he competed further in both Juniors and Futures events. He competed in both the boys' singles and doubles at the French Open. In singles, he lost in the first round, again losing to Moutet. Along with partner Rudolf Molleker of Germany, Ruusuvuori was seeded fifth in doubles. Together they reached the quarterfinals, losing to eventual finalists Vasil Kirkov and Danny Thomas of the United States. He then competed in the Portugal F9 Futures, winning three rounds in singles qualifying before reaching the quarterfinals.

In July, Ruusuvuori competed in two events on the junior tour. Competing at the Nike Junior International in Roehampton, he reached the semifinals in singles and first round in doubles, again partnering Molleker. At Wimbledon, he faced Molleker in the first round of singles, retiring in the second set.

He returned to competition in August at Les Internationaux de Tennis Junior Banque Nationale du Canada, losing to Brian Shi of the United States in the second round.

Competing as an unseeded player at the 2017 US Open in September, Ruusuvuori saw his best singles Grand Slam result of the year, reaching the semifinals. En route, he defeated two seeded players: 13th seed Sebastian Korda of the United States in the second round and 10th seed Sebastián Báez of Argentina in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Ruusuvuori lost to eventual champion Wu Yibing of China in three sets, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7⁽⁴⁾, after having two match points. With Simon Carr of Ireland, he reached the second round in doubles.

October saw further Futures competition as well as the final junior competition of the year for Ruusuvuori. At the Sweden F4 Futures, he again reached the singles quarterfinals after passing through qualifying, losing to eventual champion Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands. At the ITF Junior Masters, he finished with a 2–1 record in round robin competition, winning matches against Jurij Rodionov of Austria and Marko Miladinović of Serbia while losing to Wu for the second time that year. Reaching the final, he again faced Wu, this time exacting revenge to come out on top in three sets, 3–6, 6–1, 7–6⁽⁴⁾, and claim the title.

In November, Ruusuvuori competed in two Futures events: Estonia F4 in Pärnu and Finland F4 in Helsinki. As a wildcard entry in Pärnu, he defeated third seed Vladimir Ivanov of Estonia en route to his third quarterfinal showing of the year.

On the ITF Pro Circuit, Ruusuvuori won his first Futures championship at the Finland F4 event. Again as a wildcard entry, the competition in Helsinki saw Ruusuvori's best singles result to date. Defeating the 8th, 4th, and 1st seeds en route to the final, Ruusuvuori then defeated 3rd seeded Evgeny Karlovskiy of Russia in three sets, 4–6, 6–0, 6–1, to win his first Futures singles event of his career. In doubles, he and fellow Finnish player Patrik Niklas-Salminen reached the quarterfinals.

Through a successful 2017, Ruusuvuori reached a high Junior ranking of World No. 4 in the ITF combined junior rankings and finished the year ranked No. 665 in the ATP singles rankings. He finished his junior career with a win–loss record of 99–44.

Junior Grand Slam results - Singles:

Australian Open: QF (2017)

French Open: 1R (2017)

Wimbledon: 1R (2017)

US Open: SF (2017)

Professional career

2018: First Challenger main draw

Ruusuvuori's year began at the Hong Kong F6 Futures, held the first week of January. Seeded 7th in singles, he reached the quarterfinals before losing to 4th seeded Shintaro Imai of Japan in two sets. The next week, Ruusuvuori reached his first Challenger event main draw, coming through qualifying to reach the second round of the Bangkok Challenger.

Ruusuvuori again represented his home country in the Davis Cup in February, going 1–1 in singles to help Finland advance over Tunisia 3–2.

2019: Raise in rankings, Top 125 debut, First top-10 win

Ruusuvuori drastically improved his ATP ranking in 2019 as he had risen from 385 at the beginning of the year to 123 at the end. Ruusuvuori also made and won his first challenger final in April 2019 and would go on to win 3 of 4 more challenger finals.

In September 2019, Ruusuvuori stunned World No. 5 and 2-time French Open finalist Dominic Thiem in straight sets in a Davis Cup match against Austria for his first top-10 win.

2020: Top 100 & Grand Slam debut, First ATP Tour semifinal

Ranked at No. 100, Ruusuvuori made his Masters debut and reached the second round at the 2020 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. He subsequently reached the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at the 2020 US Open (tennis), where he defeated Aljaz Bedene in the first round, to set up a clash with Casper Ruud in the second round. He exited the tournament after retiring in the third set against Ruud.

Ruusuvuori reached the semifinals in Nur-Sultan, where he lost to Adrian Mannarino.

2021: Top 70 debut, Masters 1000 fourth round

On March 26, 2021 Ruusuvuori scored a major upset over World No. 7 Alexander Zverev at the Miami Open for a second top-10 victory in his career. He reached the fourth round where he lost to Jannik Sinner, his best result yet at a Masters 1000 event.

Ruusuvuori reached the semifinals of the 2021 Atlanta Open, beating Mackenzie McDonald, seventh seed Benoît Paire, and third seed Cameron Norrie before losing to Brandon Nakashima. He played Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the 2021 Citi Open, winning, before bowing out to Sinner in the second round. As a result he entered the top 70 at a career-high of World No. 69 on 2 August 2021.

At the 2021 Winston-Salem Open, Ruusuvuori reached his third quarterfinal of the year defeating again twelfth seeded Benoît Paire, and his third tour-level semifinal in his career defeating fourteenth seed Richard Gasquet along the way. He lost to Ilya Ivashka.

2022: First ATP Tour final, top 40 debut

Ruusuvuori started the year with success, reaching the semifinals of the Melbourne Summer Set 1, where he was defeated in two close sets by eventual champion Rafael Nadal. In the first round of the Australian Open, Ruusuvuori faced 9th seed Félix Auger-Aliassime in a five-set thriller, eventually losing to the Canadian despite leading 2 sets to 1, and bageling Auger-Aliassime in the 2nd set.

In Pune, he reached his first career final by defeating Egor Gerasimov, Vít Kopřiva, defending champion Jiří Veselý and Kamil Majchrzak. He lost to Joao Sousa in the final in three sets.

He reached a career-high of No. 63 on 25 April after successful second rounds showings at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open, the 2022 Miami Open, the 2022 Monte-Carlo Masters and a third round at the 2022 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
He reached the quarterfinals at the 2022 BMW Open and moved to the top 60 at World No. 59 on 2 May 2022.

At the 2022 Italian Open, he qualified for the main draw as a lucky loser replacing seventh seed Carlos Alcaraz, where he lost to Cristian Garín in the second round, having received a first round bye.
Ruusuvuori won his first match at the 2022 French Open over Ugo Humbert in five sets. In the second round, he lost to the 8th seed, Casper Ruud, in straight sets.

At the 2022 Queen's Club Championships he reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier defeating wildcard Jack Draper. As a result he reached the top 50 in the rankings.
He made his debut at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships and won his first match at this Major defeating Yoshihito Nishioka.

At the 2022 Citi Open in Washington he upset world No. 11 and second seed Hubert Hurkacz in the second round. He lost in the round of 16 to Mikael Ymer. At the 2022 National Bank Open in Montreal, he defeated former world No. 3 Stan Wawrinka in the first round but lost to Hurkacz in the second.

At the 2022 Stockholm Open he reached the semifinals defeating previous year semifinalist and third seed Frances Tiafoe. He lost to wildcard top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas. He moved 9 positions up to No. 43.

At the 2022 Erste Bank Open in Vienna he defeated Metz champion Lorenzo Sonego, moving closer to the top 40 in the rankings at No. 41 on 31 October 2022.Dimitrov Earns Opening Win In Vienna
ATP 25 October 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2022 He finished the year ranked No. 40 in the World.

ATP career finals

Singles: 1 (1 Runner-up)

Singles performance timeline

''Current through the 2022 US Open.''

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures/World Tennis Tour Finals

Singles: 12 (10 titles, 2 runner-up)

Doubles: 6 (6 titles)

Record against top 10 players

Ruusuvuori's record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with active players in boldface.

Wins over top 10 players

*He has a record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruusuvuori, Emil
1999 births
Living people
Finnish male tennis players
Sportspeople from Helsinki
21st-century Finnish people