Ruud Edges Sousa To Win Geneva Title

With his back against the wall, Casper Ruud successfully retained his Gonet Geneva Open title Saturday, overcoming Portugal’s Joao Sousa 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(1) to capture his eighth ATP Tour trophy.

The Norwegian rallied from a break down at 4-5 in the third set as he demonstrated his fighting spirit by returning with great depth in the crucial moments to become the first player since Stan Wawrinka in 2016 and 2017 to win multiple Geneva crowns.

In a dramatic final, the second seed fired 11 aces, hit with consistent depth on his backhand and struck the ball with power and accuracy on his forehand to secure victory on his fourth match point after three hours and one minute.

It was the first ATP Tour final of the season to go to a third-set tie-break, with Ruud’s win the longest championship match of the season in both time and games (36).

“It was one of the craziest matches that I have ever played,” Ruud said in his on-court interview. “It was a lot of up and down. Sousa was close to winning and then suddenly everything turns around and this is tennis. It is always tough for the player who is not winning.”

Ruud has now won six of the past seven ATP 250 clay-court events he has played, with his one defeat coming against Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp in Munich in April.

The World No. 8, who downed Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the final last year, is also just the second player this season to retain a trophy won in 2021, following Stefanos Tsitsipas’ successful defence of his Monte Carlo crown last month.

“This win feels so good, but you have to give a lot of credit to Joao because he fought back from one set down and has been playing well all week,” Ruud added. “It was just a matter of one or two points today and luckily they went in my favour.”

Earlier this season, Ruud clinched the title on clay in Buenos Aires. The 23-year-old joins Carlos Alcaraz (4), Rafael Nadal (3), Andrey Rublev (3), Cameron Norrie (2) and Reilly Opelka (2) as the sixth player to win multiple tour-level titles in 2022.

Sousa was aiming to clinch his fifth ATP Tour title and second of the year, having lifted the title in Pune in February. The 33-year-old, who did not drop a set en route to the final, has climbed to No. 63 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings following his run in Switzerland.