Former champ Rune downs De Minaur to continue Paris run

  • Posted: Nov 01, 2024

Former Rolex Paris Masters champion Holger Rune kept alive his slim hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday when he overcame Alex de Minaur in a dramatic quarter-final in the French capital.

In a baseline battle in Paris, Rune outlasted De Minaur down the home stretch to earn a dramatic 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory. The Dane locked in during the extended exchanges and recovered from squandering a break advantage in the third set to reach his fifth ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.

“He was putting so much up against me. He was making every ball with quality, deep in the court and the court is quite fast here,” Rune said. “I had to adjust my game a little bit and it was a constant battle but how I treated the last couple of games was very good. I went for it, I got it and I am very happy.”

The 21-year-old beat Novak Djokovic to win his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Paris in 2022 and is 12-1 at the indoor hard event. Rune is 13th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin on 3,025 points and can still qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. Eighth-placed De Minaur (3,745 points) currently occupies the final Nitto ATP Finals qualification spot and is aiming to make his debut in Turin.

Should Rune win his second Paris title in three years, he would move to within 120 points of De Minaur. The Australian De Minaur will chase further points at the ATP 250 event in Belgrade and Rune will head to the ATP 250 in Metz next week.

Following his two-hour, 28-minute win, Rune improved to 3-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with De Minaur. The 13th seed will face Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals in Paris on Saturday.

“Sascha and I had a great match in Paris, where he took it in five. I beat him one time, he took me last time,” Rune said. “He is one of the best players this year, so I will have to be very well prepared and physically recover and build on the level from this match.”

De Minaur, who was chasing his second Masters 1000 semi-final, struggled on serve during the clash. He made just 47 per cent of his first serves according to Infosys ATP Stats. Rune attacked at every opportunity and fired 24 winners en route to his second Top 10 win of the season (Grigor Dimitrov, Monte-Carlo).

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