Rublev moves past Rune in a heart-stopping match

Andrey Rublev is through to the quarter-final in the Australian Open after beating Holger Rune.

The young Danish tennis star arrived without having dropped a set, but this time he faced a bigger challenge against the world No. 6 in the world.

At the start of the match Rune broke for the first time, going 3-1 after a few minutes of play, but couldn't keep it up against a relentless Rublev who won 5 games in a row to take the first set 6-3. In the second set, the Russian slowed down and ended up giving in to the 19-year-old, who repeated the 6-3 in his favor. Rublev took the lead in the third set, marked by the unforced errors of the Dane, who had a total of 15 against the Russian's 6.

What came next had even more tension. Despite the fact that Rune had to call for medical assistance in the fourth set, the Dane went up 5-2 to win the set. Although it seemed that the Russian had a comeback with a break that put him 5-4 and with service in favor, the champion of the Paris Master in 2022 returned the break and was left with a 6-4.

The fifth set had Rublev showing physical and emotional exhaustion, and the 19-year-old knew how to take advantage of it, taking strength from the public to get 5-2. But the 5th seed still had a battle to give and balanced the match 5-5. Finally the match went to a super-tie-break, in which the World No.10 saved two match points against, but luck was with the Russian when the third match point arrived and a forehand from the Russian went into the net, falling on Rune's side and unleashing Rublev's emotion.

He stayed with the last set to leave the result at 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9). Now the challenge will be against the winner of the match between the local Alex De Minaur and the 9-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic.