GSTAAD, July 25, 2021
Third seed Casper Ruud defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday at the Swiss Open Gstaad to clinch his third ATP Tour title of the season.
The 22-year-old Norwegian saved nine of the 10 break points he faced and capitalized on four of his own 16 break-point chances to prevail after one hour and 34 minutes.
Ruud Keeps Rolling 🙌@CasperRuud98 triumphs in an entertaining Gstaad final… pic.twitter.com/wXOiQf4G3m
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) July 25, 2021
This is the Ruud’s second ATP Tour trophy of 2021 in Switzerland, having captured the Geneva Open crown in May. He also triumphed at last week’s Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden. The World No. 14 dropped just one set en route to the title, and he has now won seven consecutive matches.
“It was tough,” Ruud said. “Out of these past two weeks, this was definitely the toughest match for me against Hugo. He plays very fast and doesn’t give you much rhythm. He can play drop shots and hit winners from anywhere. I really had to step up in the big points and luckily I was able to do so today.
“Every match was good and every match I played well. When you are in the final of a tournament you will give everything no matter what, and that is what I did today.”
The Oslo native pocketed €41,145 in prize money as well as 250 ATP Ranking points. Ruud has now claimed 24 clay-court victories this year and will move up to ninth place in the ATP Race To Turin on Monday.
Swiss duo prevails in doubles
Later in the day, wild cards Marc-Andrea Huesler and Dominic Stricker capped a dream week on home soil when they overcame Polish duo Szymon Walkow and Jan Zielinski 6-1, 7-6(7) to lift the doubles trophies.
The Swiss, who were competing in just their second ATP Tour event together, dropped only one set en route to the Swiss Open title in Gstaad.
“We both started off serving really well, and the return games were going our way,” Huesler said. “We almost didn’t miss a shot in the first set, but in doubles that can go very fast. Our opponents put up a fight in the second set, but we were almost untouchable on our service games and that is probably why we won the match.”
“It is something very special to win my first title at home,” Stricker added. “It is always great to win a title, but to win with another Swiss guy is different. Hopefully we can win another one.”
Huesler and Stricker split €15,360 in prize money and collected 250 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
Delight on home soil 🙌🏆
🇨🇭 Marc-Andrea Huesler & Dominic Stricker topple Zielinski & Walkow 6-1, 7-6(7) to win their first ATP Tour doubles titles.
📷: @SwissOpenGstaad / Mathias Schultz pic.twitter.com/GkuPAU9W8e
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 25, 2021
