Unseeded Nicolas Jarry beats Grigor Dimitrov to win Geneva Open

Unseeded Nicolas Jarry raced past Grigor Dimitrov to win the Geneva Open final 7-6 (1), 6-1 on Saturday and is poised to rise to his best ranking in a career that was stalled by a doping case.

The former No. 3-ranked Dimitrov was seeking his first title since the 2017 ATP Tour Finals, which lifted him to that career-best ranking.

Instead, the 54th-ranked Jarry eased to his second title this season, converting his first match point when Dimitrov could not return a powerful serve to his backhand.

Jarry celebrated by crossing the court to where his family was watching and passed his racket up to his infant son.

In Jarry's standout week in Geneva, he beat current or former top-10 players on three straight days — two-time defending champion Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev and Dimitrov.

It was the 27-year-old Chilean's third career title, all of them coming at clay-court events in the lowest 250-level.

Jarry is now set to rise above the career-high No. 38-ranking he reached in 2019 before a failed doping test interrupted his career.

He completed serving an 11-month ban in 2020 that was imposed after he tested positive for two banned substances, including an anabolic steroid, at the Davis Cup finals. The International Tennis Federation accepted Jarry was not at significant fault for ingesting a tainted vitamin supplement made in Brazil.

"It's been a great year after a very tough couple of years. I'm very happy for that," said Jarry, who was runner-up at Geneva in 2019 against Zverev.

'Bumpy road'

Dimitrov was playing in his first final since February 2018 when he lost to Roger Federer at Rotterdam.

"It's been a while since I've done one of those," the 33rd-ranked Dimitrov said when collecting his runner-up trophy. "It's been a bumpy road but I'm very grateful to be back here and to be part of the final."

Jarry earned an early 2-1 lead Saturday with a backhand passing winner down the line to convert the only break point he had in the first set.

Dimitrov broke back in the eighth game when Jarry double-faulted.

Jarry dominated the tiebreaker and clinched the set when he charged the net and pressed Dimitrov into netting a backhand half-volley.

Dimitrov dropped his first two service games in the second set, first when he forced a forehand wide then when he put a low, backhand sliced volley into the net.

The Geneva Open is the last warmup event on clay before the French Open starts Sunday.

At Roland Garros, Jarry will face 160th-ranked Hugo Dellien of Bolivia in the first round. The winner could then face 16th-seeded American Tommy Paul.

Dimitrov is seeded No. 28 in Paris and will first play 147th-ranked Timofey Skatov of Kazakhstan.

Svitolina beats Blinkova

Two-time Grand Slam semifinalist Elina Svitolina won her first WTA title in nearly two years, and first since becoming a mother, beating Anna Blinkova 6-2, 6-3 in the final at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Saturday in France.

Svitolina and her husband, tennis player Gael Monfils, became parents in October. Svitolina returned to the tour in April. Once ranked as high as No. 3, Svitolina entered the week at No. 508 and is the lowest-ranked woman to win a tour title since an unranked Kim Clijsters at the 2009 U.S. Open.

It is the 28-year-old Svitolina's 17th title. She won the WTA Finals in 2018 and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019.

Fresh off a clay-court title, Svitolina now heads to Paris to compete in the French Open.