Casper Ruud struggled through a three-hour victory to back up his ATP Geneva title with a second straight Swiss success on Saturday.
The fighting Viking from Norway outlasted Portugal’s Joao Souza 7-6(3), 4-6, 7-6(1) and heads straight into Sunday’s start at Roland Garros on razor-sharp clay form.
The world No. 8 lifted his eighth career title – seven have come on clay – with 11 aces, breaking his opponent’s serve three times while losing his own twice.
The second seed trailed 4-5 in the final set but managed to stay alive for the victory with a second winning tiebreaker.
He joins Stan Wawrinka (2016, 2017) as a two-time Geneva champion
“It was one of the craziest matches that I have ever played,” Ruud said.
“There were a lot of ups and downs. Sousa was close to winning and then suddenly everything turned around.
“This is tennis. It is always tough for the player who is not winning.”
Ruud is on a clay roll, winning six of the past seven ATP 250 events on his surface of choice.
“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.”
The Scandinavian added the Swiss title to his Buenos Aires trophy earlier this season.
Sousa, 33, came to the final without the loss of a set.
Main photo:- Casper Ruud wins Geneva title – ATPTour.com
