Casper Ruud booked his place in the Italian Open semi-finals after overcoming Karen Khachanov across three sets in a rain-delayed encounter on Wednesday. 

After play was halted following the first set due to the weather conditions, Ruud fended off a resurgent Khachanov to earn a 6-1 1-6 6-2 victory. 

Ruud came out on top in a mammoth opening game where he squandered three game points before he got the better of his opponent's serve soon after. 

He reeled off the final five games with the minimum of fuss, only for an almost two-and-a-half-hour delay to halt his momentum. 

Once the match resumed, Khachanov dropped just eight points in the remaining six games to force a decider, but Ruud was able to regain his composure from there. 

The first four games went in Ruud's favour, and though Khachanov got himself on the board, the damage had already been done as the Norwegian sealed his progression against the serve, with a clash against Rafael Jodar or home hope Luciano Darderi up next. 

"I was happy with the win," Ruud said in his on-court interview. "A little down period in the second after the rain, but I am proud of the first and third sets.

"The quality I played with in the first and third sets is some of the best I have felt on court recently.

"I am not quite sure what happened in the second set but I let myself go and tried to focus on the third set and luckily that worked."

Data Debrief: Ruud's clay class

With his victory, Ruud reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final since his victory over Jack Draper in the Madrid Open showpiece last year, and he is once again showing his prowess on this particular surface. 

Ruud is now the only player to reach at least one ATP Masters 1000 semi-final on clay in each season since the start of the decade.

And since the ATP rankings were introduced, Ruud became just the third player to defeat three top-15 opponents on his way to the semi-finals of the Italian Open, along with Filippo Volandri in 2007 and Lorenzo Sonego in 2021.