Sixth seed Holger Rune progressed to the quarterfinal of the French Open 2023 after defeating his Argentine counterpart Francisco Cerundolo at the Court Philippe Chatrier in a five-set thriller that resulted 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 in his favour. Rune will face previous year’s runner-up Casper Ruud in the last-eight clash but the 20-year-old star had to cop a lot of boos during his match against Cerundolo.
Rune hit the ball on a double bounce in the fourth game of the third set and that invited the wrath of the spectators. Cerundolo anticipated that the umpire would call a point for him and hence stopped playing. The Argentine ended up dropping the serve as play continued and attracted boos from the audience.
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However, Rune was gracious with respect to acknowledging the fans at the end of a hard-fought victory for the Danish tennis star.
“It’s very (hard to practise for moments like this). It’s a unique moment to be on this court in front of an incredible crowd. I had a heart-breaking loss in Australia after serving for the match, so I told myself just to relax and play tennis, and enjoy it. Moments like this stay with you forever, no matter whether you win or lose. I enjoyed every moment,” he said.
He was courteous towards Cerundolo as well, praising his opponent’s strong forehand game that suits the clay court. The Argentine did not enter this match as the favourite but he impressed everyone by giving Rune a run for his money right until the end of the fifth set.
“He’s playing amazing, especially on clay, which suits his game with a big forehand. When he gets the time, we saw when I was closing out the match, he hit two forehand winners. He was just too good then. He’s a very nice guy with a bright future,” Rune conceded.
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