Borna Coric into Open Sud de France Montpellier final as Holger Rune retires with arm injury

Borna Coric has reached the final of Open Sud de France Montpellier as Holger Rune was forced to retire from their semi-final clash with an arm injury. The Croat was in firm control as he went 6-3, 4-1 up before the young Dane decided to call it a day.

For Coric, it is a first final since winning the 2022 Cincinnati Masters that he hoped would've sent him into orbit in terms of further titles and ranking. But he has since been plagued by injuries and putting together sustained bursts of fitness has been difficult.

His excellence is still very much clear to see though as his baseline defence was on full affect alongside counter-punching against Rune who continues his up and down start to the year. He reached the final in Brisbane and looked to have turned a corner under Boris Becker, but then got dumped out of the Australian Open. Before seeing his weekend end in the latter stages in Montpellier albeit after defeating opposition he was expected to see off.

After landing an early break, he struggled with the physicality of Coric who picked off game after game as Rune continued to struggle more and more and now he will have to go back to the drawing board and potentially the physio room ahead of the Middle East swing. For Coric, it is a clash with Alexander Bublik that awaits him next.