TOP three seeds Denis Shapovalov and Casper Ruud are through to the final of the 2021 Gonet Geneva Open following respective straight sets wins in their semi-finals overnight. The second seeded Shapovalov defeated Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas 6-4 7-5, while Ruud continued his great success on clay with a 6-3 6-2 triumph over Spain’s Pablo Andujar.

Shapovalov needed one hour and 42 minutes to knock off Cuevas in straight sets, serving eight aces to four, and winning 75 per cent of his first serve points off a 67 per cent clip. Both players tried to take advantage off their opponents’ second serve, with Shapovalov breaking four times from 10 chances, and Cuevas twice from five chances.

“I do enjoy faster tennis, but [clay] is not really just an adjustment, I just have to be a little bit more patient and play a little bit safer or smarter perhaps,” Shapovalov said post-match. “You have to actually almost like play chess and and construct the points.”

After finding out Ruud was his opponent for the Geneva Open final, Shapovalov said he was looking forward to the first official ATP Tour head-to-head clash, though they were familiar with each other.

“I know Casper very well,” Shapovalov said. “We played in the juniors together and we go way back. He’s improved a lot. He’s playing at a really high level the past couple of weeks, the past couple of months. So it’s going to be a fun battle tomorrow.”

Ruud was even more efficient, scoring the strong win over Andujar in just one hour and 19 minutes. Serving at a 69 per cent efficiency, Ruud won 79 and 69 per cent of his points on serve – only dropping 10 in total – whilst Andujar was 56 per cent off both though a 73 per cent clip. In the end, Ruud broke four times from nine break point opportunities, without ever having to face a break point chance himself.

“Denis has also been playing very good on the surface recently and took [Rafael] Nadal to his knees last week in Rome and had match points,” Ruud said post-match of his chances against Shapovalov. “And I was watching the match. He was playing very well and has been playing well here as well.”

Meanwhile over in Lyon, three of the four quarter finals were completed following rain delays in the previous days. Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas cruised through with a strong win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka, setting up a semi-final clash with Italian young gun Lorenzo Musetti. The teenager knocked off Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene to secure the spot in the final four. Meanwhile Karen Khachanov took care of Richard Gasquet in a tight two-setter 6-4 7-6, and will now await the winner of Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie and French lucky loser Arthur Rinderknecht who play first-up today and then double up with the semi-final at night.

GONET GENEVA OPEN SEMI-FINALS RESULTS:

[2] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) defeated [Q] Pablo Cuevas (URU) 6-4 7-5
[3] Casper Ruud (NOR) defeated Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-3 6-2

OPEN PARC AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[2] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) defeated Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 6-3 6-4
[8] Karen Khachanov (RUS) defeated Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-1 7-6
Lorenzo Musetti (ITA) defeated Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 6-3 7-6

Picture credit: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images