Zverev continues his French Open journey with a hard-fought victory over Rune

Alexander Zverev (No. 4) secured a hard-fought victory over Holger Rune (No. 13) to continue advancing in the French Open with a score of 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3. The German achieves 10 consecutive wins and reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros for the sixth time in his career.

Both players started the first set confidently, playing solid service games, although Rune had more trouble landing his first serve at 54% compared to Zverev's 74%. Even so, the Dane managed to secure the first break in the fifth game and then saved three break points against him in the next game to go up 4-2. Both maintained their serve for the rest of the set, and Rune took the lead 6-4.

However, in the second set, things turned in favor of the German, who secured two consecutive breaks and took a 4-0 lead. Although Rune managed a break, Zverev took the third consecutive break and ended up with a comfortable set win at 6-1 in 42 minutes. The world No. 4 reduced his unforced errors from 13 to 4 and won 60% of the return points.

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The third set began in favor of Rune with a break that put him ahead 2-0, but he couldn't hold his next service game, and Zverev quickly leveled the score. With a balanced development where neither conceded break points to the other, Zverev put Rune under pressure with two break opportunities at 5-5, but the Dane held on and then surprised by securing the break at the first opportunity his rival gave him since the beginning of the set and took the third set 7-5.

Sascha led the fourth set, always a break ahead. However, Rune secured the break at the right moment to level 5-5. The 21-year-old took everything to a tiebreak, being slightly superior in the final stages of the set, but did not perform well in the tiebreaker, and Zverev's experience helped him secure the set and take everything to the fifth and final set.

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Rune appeared mentally diminished, committing 13 unforced errors, more than in any previous set. On the other hand, Zverev had only one unforced error and also surpassed him in winners with 11 against 9. The former world No. 2 didn't even concede break points in the last part of the match, while he took two of his opportunities to have a calm finish at 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2.

In the quarterfinals, he will face Alex De Minaur (No. 11), who comes off defeating Daniil Medvedev (No. 5). The 26-year-old German player leads the head-to-head 7-2, with only one meeting on clay, which was a victory for Zverev in the 2022 Rome Open.

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