In search of his second ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal and first since winning the Rolex Paris Masters in November of last year, the 19-year-old will take on Matteo Berrettini on Thursday.
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Holger Rune is ready to go on the clay in 2023 after a successful clay season in which he won his first ATP Tour title in Munich and advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros. On the court, the Dane continued where he left off by defeating Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday night at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Rune is making his third appearance in Monaco and has advanced to the round of 16. Casper Ruud defeated him in the first round of his 2021 tournament debut and in the second round of the previous season’s competition. In search of his second ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal and first since winning the Rolex Paris Masters in November of last year, the 19-year-old will take on Matteo Berrettini on Thursday.
“It’s my first match back on clay so there were a few adjustments to make. But I’m all in all happy with how I handled the situation on court,” Rune said as per the official ATP website. “Dominic already played a couple of matches [on clay]. He’s a dangerous player. He can hit winners from anywhere in the court so I had to be sharp, move well and play well.”
Thiem defeated Richard Gasquet in the Monte-Carlo first round with some of his best tennis of the year, and he got off to a good start against Rune with a love hold on Court Rainier III. Beyond that, however, Rune’s Top 10 level proved to be too much for the Austrian in the lopsided opening set.
With relentless attack, the World No. 9 pinned Thiem far behind the baseline, his electric forehand doing the majority of the damage as he racked up five straight games from 1-2 to win the set. Rune finished the first set with an 80 percent win rate (28/35) behind his first delivery, winning all 14 of his first-serve points.
At the Monte-Carlo Masters on Tuesday, Andrey Rublev escaped danger in the second round to win his 250th match at the tour-level. At the clay-court competition, the fifth seed overcame a set deficit to defeat Spaniard Jaume Munar 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Rublev, who advanced to the Principality final in 2021, outclassed Munar after two hours and twelve minutes by clubbing 36 winners and breaking Munar’s serve six times. After dropping the first set, they made a strong comeback.
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“The feeling was, ‘No way, I might be out in the first round of Monaco.’ Then, I don’t know, I started to feel I had to change something, I had to play more aggressive,” Rublev said in his on-court interview. “I cannot just push the ball because in the end he [was] running much better than me and in the end he [was] waiting for the right moment and he changed much easier [the direction] because I [was] not putting pressure on him.”
