It’s Saturday Semifinal in Bercy, featuring two former champions, a six-time Masters champion, and the new French No.1.
Holger Rune currently sits in 13th place in the Race to Turin. But if he wins this title, which he did back in 2022, he’ll move into 10th place, leaving him within striking distance of qualifying next week at a 250-level event in Metz. However, he must first overcome Alexander Zverev, who with a win in this semifinal, would surpass Carlos Alcaraz as the new World No.2.
The other singles semifinal sees 2018 champion Karen Khachanov take on France’s new No.1 Ugo Humbert.
Throughout the tournament, this preview will analyze the day’s most prominent match, while highlighting the other notable matches on the schedule. Saturday’s play gets underway at 11:30am local time.
Holger Rune (13) vs. Alexander Zverev (3) – Not Before 2:00pm on Court Central
Rune has survived three-setters in both of the last two rounds, first against France’s Arthur Cazaux, then against Alex de Minaur. His quarterfinal against the Australian was a topsy-turvy affair, though Holger played an excellent last few games to prevail 7-5 in the third. Rune is now 12-1 lifetime at this event, with his only loss coming in last year’s semifinals against Novak Djokovic.
Zverev was the runner-up here in 2020, and was a semifinalist the year after. He’s dropped only one set through three matches this week, to Arthur Fils on Thursday, before taking out Stefanos Tsistipas in straights on Friday. Overtaking Alcaraz for the World No.2 could have a significant impact on the round robin groups for the ATP Finals, as it would mean Alcaraz and Sinner could end up within the same group, while Zverev would avoid being grouped with Sinner, who has clearly been the best player of 2024.
The German leads their head-to-head 2-1, and also claimed their only hard court encounter, which occurred earlier this season in Canada. A few months prior in the round of 16 at Roland Garros, Zverev came from two-sets-to-one-down to prevent Rune from achieving a third consecutive French Open quarterfinal. While Sascha has clearly been the better player this season, with nearly 20 more match wins, neither man arrived in Paris with much momentum. And considering Holger seemingly turns into a more confident version of himself in Paris, I give him the slight edge in this semifinal.
Other Notable Matches on Saturday:
Karen Khachanov vs. Ugo Humbert (15) – Khachanov is now 12-1 across the last three weeks, after defeating a depleted Grigor Dimitrov in straight sets on Friday. Humbert also won his quarterfinal in straight sets, over Jordan Thompson, a day after Ugo upset Carlos Alcaraz. Their only previous meeting took place three years ago in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, where Karen prevailed in a tight three-setter.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
