Alexander Zverev battles past Holger Rune in five sets at Roland Garros - UBITENNIS

Alexander Zverev battles past Holger Rune in five sets at Roland Garros

By sampaolo
3 Min Read

Alexander Zverev came back from two sets to one down to beat Holger Rune 4-6 6-1 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 6-2 after 4 hours and 40 minutes reaching the quarter finals at Roland Garros. Zverev is bidding to reach the semifinals for the fourth consecutive year at Roland Garros. 

Zverev set up a quarter final match against Alex De Minaur, who beat Danil Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3. Zverev leads 7-2 in his nine head-to-head matches, including a three-set win in Indian Wells last March. 

Zverev and Rune were supposed to start their match at 20.15 but they started their warm-up after 21.00. The previous match between Novak Djokovic and Francisco Cerundolo lasted 4 hours and 39 minutes. 

Rune broke serve in the fifth game of the opening set to take a 3-2 lead. Rune saved three break-back points to hold serve in the sixth game for 4-2 en route to winning the first set 6-4. 

Zverev raced out to a 4-0 lead with two breaks of serve in the second set. Rune pulled one break back in the fifth game for 1-4. Zverev broke for the third time to close out the second set 6-1. 

Rune broke in the second game of the third set to open up a 2-0 lead. Zverev broke straight back in the third game and held serve in the fourth game to draw level to 2-2. Rune sealed the third set with a break in the 12th game, as Zverev hit a volley off target when he was defending when he was defending a set point. 

Both players traded breaks in the third and fourth games of the fourth set. Zverev broke again in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. Rune broke back in the 10th game to draw level to 5-5. Zverev earned three mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-2. 

Zverev broke in the fourth game on his fifth break points to take a 3-1 lead. The German sealed the fifth set 6-2 with a double break on his second match point. The German has reached his 12th Grand Slam quarter final. 

Zverev converted eight of his 23 break points. The reigning Olympic champion ha been on court for more than eight hours against Rune and Tallon Griekspoor. 

It was the second match in three days that finished in the early hours of the morning. Novak Djokovic closed out a five-set win against Lorenzo Musetti at 3.07 on Sunday. 

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