Ruud retains Geneva Open title beating Sousa in 3-hour final

May 21, 2022 GMT
1 of 5
Casper Ruud of Norway celebrates beating Joao Sousa of Portugal, during their Final match at the ATP 250 Geneva Open tournament in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
1 of 5
Casper Ruud of Norway celebrates beating Joao Sousa of Portugal, during their Final match at the ATP 250 Geneva Open tournament in Geneva, Switzerland, Saturday, May 21, 2022. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

GENEVA (AP) — Casper Ruud retained his Geneva Open title by beating Joao Sousa 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (1) in the final on Saturday.

One day before the French Open starts in Paris, eighth-ranked Ruud’s seventh career title on clay courts lifted his record in finals to 8-3.

The Norwegian has never been beyond the third round at Roland Garros. Ruud has been drawn in the first round against French fans’ favorite, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who will retire after the tournament.

Ruud’s preparation was a three-hour match that was the longest three-set final on the ATP Tour this season.

He was a break of service down in the third set then recovered to create two match-point chances that he wasted before the tiebreaker.

“It was one of the craziest matches that I have ever played,” Ruud said.

Sousa was runner-up at Geneva for a second time, and his ranking will rise from No. 79 to No. 63.

___

More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports