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Gauff wins tournament in Parma, Ruud defeats Shapovalov in Geneva final

By Justin Gincauskas

Norway's Casper Ruud raises the trophy after winning the ATP 250 Geneva Open tennis final match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov, in Geneva on May 22, 2021. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)
Norway's Casper Ruud raises the trophy after winning the ATP 250 Geneva Open tennis final match against Canada's Denis Shapovalov, in Geneva on May 22, 2021. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) (Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Coco Gauff and Casper Ruud each won their respective WTA and ATP 250 level tournaments on Saturday.

For Coco Gauff, she defeated sixth seed Qiang Wang in the Emilia-Romagna Open final, 6-1, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes. It was Gauff’s first WTA title of the year, and her second of her young career.

The 17-year-old American saved all four breaks points she faced in the match, while breaking Wang’s serve four times on eight chances, according to SAP Match Stats. It was the return game for Gauff that led to such a convincing win over Wang. Gauff won 50% of the points when Wang got her first serve in, while Wang was only able to win 23.5% of the points on the first serve return. Gauff will certainly be able to take a lot of confidence from this tournament into the French Open, where she can definitely make a deep run in the wide-open women’s field.

In the Geneva Open final, it was a big win for Casper Ruud as he defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-4. It was Ruud’s first ATP title of 2021, and the second career title for the Norwegian.

Casper Ruud did not face a single break point against Shapovalov, and was finally able to get the first and only break of the match in the second set to seal the match and take the title in Geneva. The biggest reason why Ruud was able to defeat Shapovalov on Saturday was because of the second serve points won for Ruud. Ruud won 81% of the points on his second serve, which was actually higher than his first serve points won, according to Infosys ATP Stats. 81% is extremely high for the second serve, and best explains why Ruud never faced a break point. Shapovalov on the other hand only won 58% of the points on his second serve, which is why he faced five break points in the match. Ruud will be someone to watch coming into the French Open, which starts in just over a week, as he has made it to at least the semi-finals in the last four clay court tournaments he has played.

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