World No. 21 Casper Ruud pips Shapovalov for Geneva title

GENEVA: World No. 21 Casper Ruud of Norway was rock-solid in the Geneva Open final as he took down 15th-ranked Denis Shapovalov of Canada 7-6(6), 6-4 for his second ATP Tour title on Saturday.

Ruud, seeded third here, has been in impressive form throughout the clay-court swing, arriving in Geneva on the back of three consecutive semi-finals at Monte-Carlo, Munich and Madrid. In Geneva, the 22-year-old Ruud dropped only one set en route the championship match against Shapovalov, who was also seeking his second tour-level title.

Ruud edged through a tightly contested opening set that was defined by strong serving and no break points on offer. Shapovalov dropped only one point behind his first serve and won 94 per cent of those points, while Ruud dominated the second serve, winning 91 per cent before they went into the tie-break.

Ruud improved to an ATP Tour-leading 32 clay-court wins in 2020-21, ahead of Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas (26) and Chile's Cristian Garin (25). IANS

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