Outsider Nicolas Jarry beat Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets in the Geneva Open final on Saturday to bounce into next week’s French Open bolstered by a clay court title.Chilean Jarry, the world number 54, beat Dimitrov 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 to claim only the third singles title of his career.Bulgarian world number 33 Dimitrov was Jarry’s third impressive scalp in three days at the Parc des Eaux-Vives.He knocked out top seed and world number four Casper Ruud - the 2021 and 2022 defending champion - in the quarter-finals. The Chilean number one then beat Alexander Zverev in the semis."It was a very awesome week. Since the beginning my only mistake was one game against Casper," Jarry told reporters. The 27-year-old will move to a career high ranking of number 35. Former world number three Dimitrov missed the chance to claim his first title since winning the ATP Finals on his debut in 2017.The 28-man Geneva tournament serves as a last-chance tune-up before the second Grand Slam of the year in Paris. Jarry said heading to the Roland Garros clay with the Geneva trophy "gives me a lot of confidence. I know what I have to do, and I have to grind a little bit more".Jarry served an 11-month suspension after testing positive for anabolic agent ligandrol and anabolic steroid stanozolol at the Davis Cup in November 2019. He blamed his positive test on "cross-contamination" from "multi-vitamins made in Brazil".Jarry said it had been a long road back. "I’ve been doing so much mental work, pushing myself to uncomfortable places to be able to understand myself more, and dealing a lot with tough emotions - so very deep things," he said."Last year was very tough because I was doing everything right and I didn’t get any results back. But I think it made me stronger for weeks like this."
May 28, 2023 | 12:22 AM