Leylah Fernandez loses Madrid Open semifinal to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo

Canada's Leylah Fernandez lost in straight sets to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo, 6-2, 7-5, in the W100 Madrid Open semifinal on Saturday.

Fernandez was successful on just 55 per cent of her first serves, hitting seven double faults, and won only 50 per cent of her first-serve points.

Sorribes Tormo won six break points in the match.

Fernandez, a 20-year-old from Laval, Que., is currently ranked 50th in the world in WTA women's singles.

The French Open, the only clay-court Grand Slam in tennis, begins later this month.

Rybakina takes Italian Open title

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina won the Italian Open when Ukrainian opponent Anhelina Kalinina retired injured early in the second set of the rain-delayed final on Saturday in Rome.

Rybakina was leading 6-4, 1-0, 15-0 when Kalinina called for a trainer and grasped her left leg. Then she decided that she couldn't continue.

The final began at almost 11 p.m. on Saturday and ended just after midnight on Sunday.

"I'm really sorry that I couldn't play," Kalinina said during the trophy ceremony as the crowd whistled after waiting under the rain for hours before the night session started. "I was trying to do my best."

It's the biggest tournament Rybakina has won on clay, with her only other title on the surface in Bucharest in 2019.

"I can play good on all the surfaces," Rybakina said. "It's just maybe for clay I need to be ready more physically and maybe have a lot of preparation."

It's been quite a year for Rybakina, who reached the final of the Australian Open, also won an elite title in Indian Wells and was the runner-up in Miami. On Monday, she'll move up to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings and will be considered a contender at the French Open, which starts next weekend.

"I'm proud that I can maintain this level," she said. "I can see improvements on the court, physically also. ... I think there is still a lot of room to improve."

The 47th-ranked Kalinina was playing in the biggest final of her career, and has been dedicating her performances to her war-torn country.

Kalinina's family home was destroyed in a Russian attack last year. Also, her elderly grandparents have had to relocate from the southern city of Nova Kakhovka — which is held by Russian forces — to Kyiv. Kalinina's parents work as tennis coaches in Kyiv and she said on Friday there was a "huge, huge bomb near them, near their academy" a few days ago.

Rybakina was born in Moscow and has represented Kazakhstan since 2018, when that country offered funding to support her tennis career.

Rune beats Ruud to reach Italian Open final

Holger Rune followed up his latest victory over Novak Djokovic with another impressive performance to reach the Italian Open final, rallying past Casper Ruud 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday.

Rune was down a set and a break before he overcame Ruud, who had won all four of their previous meetings.

"It's crazy. I really played some of my best tennis, especially the last two matches, first against Novak and then against Casper," Rune said. "Two so difficult players to play, so I had to find my best tennis. And I actually didn't find it today, only at the end, and that was why I turned it around."

Rune has reached his third clay-court final this season. The 20-year-old Dane was beaten by Andrey Rublev in Monte Carlo and won Munich.

"He plays very fearless, takes the ball early, which is really impressive to do on clay," Ruud said. "It's not very typical to sort of do too well on clay because you have some wrong bounces. ... A couple times I played heavy, he just went on the rise, hit the clean winner back."

Medvedev beat Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-5, 7-5 in a match that was suspended for a total of nearly 4 1/2 hours due to rain over two separate stoppages late in the first set.

Making the final marked quite a turnaround for Medvedev, who lost his opening match in Rome in his three previous appearances. If he beats Rune, Medvedev will return to No. 2 in the rankings and thus be seeded second for the French Open, which starts next weekend.

It will be just the second clay-court final for Medvedev, and first since 2019.

He celebrated with a little dance after converting his first match point more than six hours after the match started.

"It's like being in the club completely drunk. When you are dancing — and I have a lot of friends like this — you feel like you are the god of the dance floor. But then when they show you the video it was not the thing," Medvedev said. "So I don't know how did it go but I was just happy to be in my first clay Masters final."

Medvedev embraced the challenge of the delays: "Sometimes it can throw you off, you can be a little bit angry. Today, I don't know why, I was just kind of laughing."

The seventh-ranked Rune was coming off a win over six-time Rome champion Djokovic in the quarterfinals — his second victory against him in little more than six months.

Rune improved to 7-1 against players ranked in the top five.

"I play some of my best tennis when I play the top guys of the world," Rune said. "It's a good time to play your best tennis because you need it against those players."

The match was filled with memorable points, starting when Ruud ran down a drop shot and replied with a delicate but sharply angled winner in the second game.

Rune was ready the next time Ruud attempted the same shot and ran down a seemingly impossible ball outside the doubles alley, sending Ruud back toward the baseline before eventually finishing off the point with a volley winner. Rune waved his hands to urge on roars from the crowd.

After dropping his serve midway through the second set, Rune took a medical timeout to have his right shoulder treated. When play resumed, Rune took control, producing an 134 kph forehand return winner off a first serve as he broke to take the second set.

At the start of the third, Rune whipped another forehand cross-court after he was pulled off the court.

Under constant pressure due to Rune's court coverage and foot speed, Ruud double-faulted to hand Rune a break early in the third and never recovered.

The match was played in overcast conditions under intermittent rain.

"There were some great rallies. It was a fun match to play," Ruud said. "Also, I think the crowd enjoyed it."