Rune defeated defending champion Djokovic in the Rome Quarterfinals

2023-05-17 20:22:00

The Serb lost on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of this sand classic to the number seven Dane Holger Rune 2: 6, 6: 4, 2: 6 and thus went 1: 2 in a head-to-head with the 20-year-old Residue. Most recently, Rune triumphed against 35-year-old Djokovic in November in the final of the Masters 1000 indoor tournament in Paris.

Rune had started aggressively to take a 4-1 lead, but Djokovic had apparently not presented himself or felt physically very fit. Midway through the second set, Djokovic had to take a painkiller. As a result, he managed to equalize the set after Rune had to take a break because of his leg injury. In any case, the youngster was back in full form in the third set and made the preliminary decision with a 4-0 lead.

“It’s a really big win for me, even though I’ve done it before in Paris,” said Rune. “But it’s always a big challenge when I play against Novak. He’s one of the greatest tennis players of all time, so I know I have to play at my highest level. Novak is an inspiration.”

The defeat of “Djoker” ended a remarkable series, because since 2005 or 18 years in a row at least the world number one or the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who did not appear this time due to injury, was represented in the Rome final. Djokovic, who started as the defending champion, remains on the tour with six Rome titles and a total of 93 final victories. For Rune it’s about his fifth ATP title on Friday, the second overall at the 1000 level after Paris 2022.

Friday’s opponent will be number four of the tournament in a Scandinavian duel with Casper Ruud. The Norwegian prevailed 7:6(5),6:4 against Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, who had previously thrown Jannik Sinner out of the competition. On Thursday, German Yannick Hanfmann and Russian Daniil Medvedev (3) as well as Greek Stefan Tsitsipas (5) will play against Croatian Borna Coric (15) for the remaining two places in Saturday’s semifinals. Alcaraz (2) was eliminated in round three.