Nagal to clash with Marcora at French Open qualifiers

India's top singles players Sumit Nagal on Sunday drew lower-ranked Italian Roberto Marcora while Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Ramkumar Ramanathan got matching rivals for their first-round clashes at French Open Qualifiers.

The 23-year Nagal is yet to earn a main draw berth in the Clay court Grand Slam and must make a good start against the 191st ranked Marcora.

The Jhajjar-born Indian, who competed at the Australian Open this year, has come into the tournament after playing two Challenger-level events, where he made the quarterfinals.

The left-handed Prajnesh, ranked 149, will take on Germany's Oscar Otte, ranked 152.

Prajnesh has not competed in the main draw of a Grand Slam since losing his first round of the 2020 Australian Open.

In 2019, he had featured in all four majors in the calendar.

Ramkumar, who has failed to enter the main draw of a Grand Slam in a number of attempts, will open his campaign against American Michael Mmoh, ranked 168.

Ramkumar's ranking has dropped considerably as the Chennai player is now placed outside the top-200, at number 215.

In the women's singles, Ankita Raina will open her campaign against Australian veteran Anastasia Rodionova.

Ruthless Ruud topples Shapovalov to win Geneva Open

Third seed Casper Ruud claimed his second career title on the ATP Tour after beating Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (6), 6-4 in the final of the claycourt Geneva Open on Saturday.

Norwegian Ruud did not concede a single break point to the Canadian second seed to prevail in the battle of the 22-year-olds and add to the Argentina Open title he won last year.

Neither player blinked in the opening set, which went with serve but Ruud almost lost his way in the tiebreak when Shapovalov fought back from 6-2 down to 6-6.

However, the Norwegian kept his cool and won his fifth set point when Shapovalov directed a volley into the net.

In the second set, Ruud converted his fifth break point of the match to go 3-2 up and never looked back, clinching the title when Shapovalov's return on match point went long.

The title will see Ruud move up to 16th in the rankings and, coupled with his semi-final runs in Madrid and Monte Carlo, it bodes well ahead of the French Open later this month.