Friday’s quarterfinals at the Royal Tennis Hall delivered thrilling performances from both home favorite Elias Ymer and Canada’s Denis Shapovalov, as well as from top seeds Casper Ruud and Sebastian Korda, with semifinal spots on the line.

Elias Ymer’s fighting spirit shines despite defeat to Shapovalov

The quarterfinal clash between Swedish hopeful Elias Ymer and Canadian Denis Shapovalov marked their first meeting on the ATP Tour. For Ymer, it was his second singles quarterfinal at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open, while Shapovalov won the tournament in 2019, reached the final in 2021. Ymer may not have had his best season in 2025, but has impressed in this year’s tournament at the Royal Tennis Hall. On the opposite side of the net, Shapovalov won two titles this year, in Los Cabos and Dallas, and defeated Taylor Fritz and Casper Ruud during the 2025 season. Elias started the match positively, holding his service games, but in the ninth game, Shapovalov broke Ymer’s serve to take a 5-4 lead, allowing him to serve out the set comfortably to win 6-4.

With his back against the wall, the Swede fired back early in the second set, taking a 2-0 lead, but the Canadian stepped up his game and won four games in a row. Ymer struggled again in the following service game but managed to avoid another break and narrowed the gap to 3-4. Carried by a home crowd, it took a valiant effort from the Swede to level up at five games all. Shapovalov immediately broke again, but Ymer responded with yet another break of the Canadian’s serve to force a tiebreak for the Royal Tennis Hall’s greatest delight. Stepping up in the rallies, Ymer displayed an impressive level to stun the third seed, winning the tiebreak 7-3 and forcing a deciding set. After a gruelling second set, even the home crowd’s support wasn’t enough for Ymer to challenge Shapovalov. In the third set, the Canadian proved to be the stronger player, closing out the match comfortably 6–1 in the decider and 6–4, 6–7(3), 6–1 overall. In Saturday’s semifinal, the Canadian will face Norway’s Casper Ruud.

Casper Ruud battles past Sebastian Korda to reach BNP Paribas Nordic Open semifinals

Earlier in the evening, a thrilling quarterfinal unfolded on Friday evening as World No. 12 Casper Ruud took on American Sebastian Korda in the BNP Paribas Nordic Open. The two had last met in Madrid earlier this year, where Ruud claimed victory in straight sets on clay.
Ruud started the first set strongly, breaking Korda’s serve early to lead 3–0, but the American responded with a break of his own at 4–2, later forcing a tiebreak. Korda edged out the opener 7–6(5) after a series of mini-breaks.

In the second set, Ruud put up a compelling fight, as he raised his level and broke his opponent once to take the second set 6–4. In the deciding set, it was Ruud’s consistency from the baseline and clinical serving that proved to be decisive as he sealed the match 6–7(5), 6–4, 6–4. With the win, Ruud advanced to the semifinals of the tournament, continuing his impressive indoor form and staying on course for his first title at the event.


Last doubles pairs confirmed for semifinals

On Friday, in the doubles tournament, Adam Pavlasek and Jan Zielinski defeated Francisco Cabral and Lucas Miedler 5-7, 6-3, 10-7. In the second doubles match of the day, Vasil Kirkov and Bart Stevens overcame the French pair Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul: 6-2, 3-6, 10-4. Both matches were decided by a final match tiebreak. In Saturday’s semifinals, the winners of Friday’s quarterfinals will face each other, while the other doubles semifinal will be played between Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori against Alexander Erler and Robert Galloway.