Norway’s Casper Ruud has finally earned a spot in the Italian Open finals.

After getting knocked out in the semis in 2020, 2022 and 2023, the clay court specialist overwhelmed Italy’s Luciano Darderi, 6-1, 6-1 in only 65 minutes on Friday in Rome.

But Ruud will have to wait until Saturday to learn his opponent’s identity. The second semifinal, between Italy’s No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner and seventh-seeded Russian Danill Medvedev, was postponed after heavy rains would not relent.

The match was halted at a dramatic moment, with Sinner leading 6-2, 5-7, 4-2, but Medvedev holding a deuce advantage on his serve. Officials waited 75 minutes until 11:00 p.m. local time before postponing the match. It will resume on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.

There was also a rain delay of an hour and 59 minutes in Ruud’s win.

Ruud, seeded 23rd, will vault back up into the Top 20 after Sunday’s finals. He will climb to No. 15 with a win or No. 17 with a setback.

Darderi, the 18th seed, was clearly feeling the effects of a grueling, three-hour quarterfinal win over Spain’s Rafael Jodar on Wednesday. He did not hold serve in three opportunities in the first set and only won 40% of his first serves in a 27-minute sprint by Ruud.

The second set was more of the same, although the Italian finally held serve on his sixth service game of the match and forced Ruud to play 24 points to win the final two games.

“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, he finished at 2:30 am the other night. 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 recorded 20 winners and made 16 unforced errors, compared to nine and 23 by Darderi. He won 29 of 48 points (60%) on his opponent’s serve.

Ruud became the sixth active player to reach the finals of all three ATP events played on clay. He competed in the 2024 finals in Monte-Carlo and the 2025 title match in Madrid, where he defeated Great Britain’s Jack Draper.

He lost Italian Open semifinals to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (2020, 2022) and Denmark’s Holger Rune (2023).

Ruud has never beaten Sinner (0-4) and is 1-3 versus Medvedev.

–Field Level Media

MLS Golden Boot leader Hugo Cuypers will try to help the Chicago Fire to a second away win in four days in Saturday’s visit to a CF Montreal side that is resurgent under interim manager Philippe Eullaffroy.

Cuypers scored his 12th goal on Wednesday night as the Fire (6-4-2, 20 points) rallied from behind to a 3-1 victory at D.C. United.

The Belgian international has now scored in nine consecutive league matches and enters the weekend one ahead of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi and Dallas’ Petar Musa for the MLS scoring lead.

“For me, the Golden Boot has always been a consequence of the work I put in,” Cuypers said. “Of course I want to win the Golden Boot, that’s out of the question. But it’s not a focus because I know what I have to put in to get there. For me, it’s a reward and a consequence, not a goal, if that makes sense.”

Chicago’s three goals after halftime helped halt a three-match losing skid in all competitions, with all of those defeats coming at home.

A win or draw at Montreal (4-7-1, 13 points) could extend the Fire’s away unbeaten run to six matches in all competitions and five in the league.

But the Canadian side has posted a 3-1-1 record since Eullaffroy took over for the fired Marco Donadel and implemented a slight tactical shift into a 4-3-3 shape.

“I would say the mindset, the atmosphere, the joy — I know I’m repeating myself a little, but those were the things that were crucial to bring back,” Eullaffroy said in French. “And then, secondly, it’s the fact that we managed to change the team’s identity quite rapidly — even if we are still far from where I’d like us to end up.”

Under Eullaffroy, Montreal has been less possession oriented, having the majority of the ball only once in those five matches. A home-heavy schedule has also helped, with Montreal hosting six of eight before MLS breaks for the World Cup from late May through early July.

Striker Daniel Rios has scored his first two goals since his offseason move from Vancouver in Montreal’s last two games, a 2-0 home win over Orlando last Saturday and a 2-2 draw with Portland on Wednesday.

–Field Level Media

The task facing the Buffalo Sabres is not easy, but it is straightforward.

The Sabres must drum up a win when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday or their season is over.

The Canadiens lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series 3-2 with a chance to close it out in front of their frenzied home faithful. The Sabres head to Montreal with a chance to spoil that party and then have the same opportunity in their arena on Monday.

“What is there, five teams left? To be sitting here talking to you guys, I think that it’s a wonderful place to be, and I’ll tell the team the same thing,” coach Lindy Ruff said on Friday. “We get to go to Montreal in Game 6 in the middle of May to move on to a Game 7.”

The series winner will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final. Carolina swept its opponents in each of the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs and has been off since Sunday.

To prolong their series, the Sabres must regroup from a deflating 6-3 home loss on Thursday. Buffalo held a 3-2 lead after the first period, but surrendered four unanswered goals.

This would be a perfect time for a couple of struggling first-liners to find their form. Alex Tuch and Peyton Krebs have failed to net a single point in the first five games of this series. Tuch netted four goals and three assists while Krebs had six points (two goals, four assists) in the six-game series victory over the Boston Bruins to open the playoffs.

“I can’t play the way I’m playing right now,” Tuch said. “Just going to be will and determination, but I’ve got to move past it, I’ve got to move on to the next game, and I’ve got to be better for the guys in this room.”

The Canadiens return home to a city and arena that will be filled with excitement.

The young squad had high hopes for the season and going into the playoffs. Reaching the third round may have exceeded anybody’s expectation back in October, but now is a reality they can all envision.

“Saturday night at the Bell Centre, I don’t think you can write it any better to close out a series,” forward Joe Veleno said on Friday. “I think the boys know that, and we’re all ready for it.”

It’s the same situation they had in their opening-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Montreal failed to beat the Lightning in that Game 6 on the road, although it was as much due to a great goaltending performance by Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy as anything else.

Still, there was a lesson learned about the difficulty of closing out a series.

“I think it’s the hardest game,” defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. “Any time a team’s got its back against the wall, that’s when they’re desperate, that’s when they play their best most of the time. We’ve just got to stick to our game plan and really do what we do best.”

Though there will be a euphoric atmosphere in Montreal, the Canadiens’ track record this postseason has shown they will likely not be overwhelmed.

“I think we’re just focused on each and every day,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “We’re not worried about the day before. We’re not worried about what’s ahead. Let’s just take care of today. I think when you just take care of today, usually you don’t get anxious or too ecited. I feel like you just stay present where your feet are.”

–Field Level Media