Jódar beats Ruud to reach Shanghai semifinals

Rafael Jódar defeated Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the Shanghai Masters quarterfinal, becoming the tournament’s youngest-ever semifinalist after a fourth consecutive comeback from a lost opening set. The 20-year-old Spaniard completed the win in two hours and 20 minutes. Jódar had also come from behind in each of his three previous Shanghai matches. Against Ruud, he recovered after losing the first set, breaking the Norwegian’s serve five times across the second and third sets to secure his place in the last four. The victory marked another milestone in Jódar’s first full season on the ATP Tour. He was ranked 903 a little over a year ago and has since risen to world No. 13, according to reports. His Shanghai result also made this his fifth tour-level semifinal of the season and his second at a Masters 1000 event. After the match, Jódar said Ruud had played the important points better in the first set and that he had wanted to come back. He described himself as pleased with how his season was going, while saying there was still room to improve. The win moved Jódar to ninth in the live ATP Finals race, according to post-match reports. That position is not a confirmed...