After Alexander Zverev ended his latest five-set thriller with an overhead smash, he spread his arms and let the crowd celebrate. The tennis star can continue his title mission at the French Open in Paris after another five-set thriller. The 27-year-old won his highly changeable round of 16 match against the Dane Holger Rune 4:6, 6:1, 5:7, 7:6 (7:2), 6:2 and is now in the quarterfinals of the Grand Slam tournament on clay for the fourth time in a row.
“Holger is an incredible player, a great talent. I’m happy that I got through,” said the Hamburg native in an interview on Court Philippe Chatrier. Zverev’s hard-fought victory was only confirmed at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday morning after 4 hours and 11 minutes of play. The Olympic champion had already managed to avert an impending exit in five sets against the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in the third round.
In the round of the best eight on Wednesday, the Hamburg native will face Australian Alex De Minaur, who surprisingly beat Russian world number five Daniil Medvedev 4:6, 6:2, 6:1, 6:3 during the day.
“I think it’s a dangerous match for Sascha,” Eurosport expert Boris Becker, who coached Rune until February, predicted before the first serve. Rune also played with a lot of variation, with many rhythm changes; he used the same tactics to unnerve Zverev in the only duel on clay in 2022 in Munich.
After losing the first set, Zverev lost his slight passivity, and his previously weaker second serve also stabilized. After the German deservedly tied the set, both opponents often had great difficulty getting their serve games through. But they put on a top-class duel in terms of fighting spirit. “They left everything they had on the court,” enthused Becker: “That’s great sport.” In the last set, Zverev was at his best, and Rune was often too hectic.
Djokovic also with five-set drama
The match started more than an hour later than planned because Novak Djokovic had also previously caused a five-set drama on Court Philippe Chatrier. It took 4 hours and 39 minutes for his 6:1, 5:7, 3:6, 7:5, 6:3 round of 16 victory against the Argentine outsider Francisco Cerúndolo to become certain. As in the previous round, the defending champion from Serbia fought back from a 1:2 set deficit – this time even handicapped by a knee injury at the start of the second set.
A start in the quarter-finals is therefore not certain. “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow or the day after, whether I will be able to go on the court and play,” said the 37-year-old late on Monday evening. He will have to see how it feels when the adrenaline and painkillers no longer work.
But Djokovic will need to be in top form against last year’s finalist Casper Ruud from Norway, who beat the American Taylor Fritz 7:6 (8:6), 3:6, 6:4, 6:2 and will face the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
