Sports Calendar: Giro d’Italia, F1 Monaco GP, and More – May 28th-29th, 2023

(Casper Ruud – Nicolas Jarry 6-3, 6-7, 5-7) Casper Ruud (24) got off to the best start, but was unable to beat Chilean Nicolas Jarry (27) in the quarter-finals of the Geneva Open.

The Norwegian has thus been knocked out of the ATP 250 tournament in which he is the two-time reigning champion. Ruud won the VG+ Sport-broadcast clay tournament in both 2021 and 2022.

Ruud got off to the best start with a strong set and 6-3 in the game, but had to see himself beaten by the lanky Chilean in the tiebreak in the second set. There, Yarry crushed Ruud with the numbers 7-2.

In the last and decisive set, Yarry put pressure on Ruud when he broke first, but the Norwegian answered with a break and equalized at 4-4 after three break points.

But the Chilean had to break again and went up to 6-5, and got two match points. Ruud saved the first, but couldn’t get hold of the second. Thus it was 7-5 to Yarry and exit for the Norwegian 24-year-old, who was unable to defend the title in Switzerland.

The Geneva Open was Ruud’s last test before the Grand Slam tournament French Open starts on Sunday. The Norwegian meets a qualifier in the first round, and could again face his Danish rival Holger Rune in a potential quarter-final.

Jarry is number 54 in the ATP rankings and had met Ruud once earlier in his career before Thursday’s quarter-final. That time on hard court, where the Norwegian won after three sets.

The quarter-finals began somewhat earlier than expected after Chinese Wu Yibing had to retire in the first set against German Aleksander Zverev. The German will thus be Yarry’s opponent in Friday’s semi-final.

Zverev is now number 27 in the ATP rankings.

Ruud is the two-time reigning champion in Geneva, but in 2019 it was Zverev who ran away with the title in the ATP 250 tournament in Switzerland. The German also took Olympic gold in 2021 when he beat Karen Khatsjanov in the final.