Teenager Holger Rune moved to within one win of capturing his second ATP Masters 1000 title Saturday when he moved past Jannik Sinner 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a late-night thriller at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.
In a battle between two of the brightest talents on Tour, it was the 19-year-old Rune who handled the conditions and pressure the best in a rain-disrupted clash on Court Rainier III. The Dane struck his clean groundstrokes with aggression in the heavy conditions and recovered from a slow start against the 21-year-old Italian to advance after two hours and 46 minutes.
"It was quite unbelievable," Rune said. "Jannik started firing, hitting a lot of winners and he has been in good form the past few months. I had to dig deep and find solutions, which I did well. It was fun to play like this."
With his 17th tour-level win of the season, Rune has improved to 2-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against Sinner. The Dane is up two spots to No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings and can rise to a career-high No. 6 by claiming his eighth tour-level crown on Sunday.
Rune defeated Novak Djokovic in the championship match in Paris last season and will aim to clinch his second ATP Masters 1000 crown when he takes on Andrey Rublev in Sunday’s final.
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Competing in heavy conditions, seventh seed Sinner and sixth seed Rune looked to dictate in the brutal baseline exchanges. After Sinner dominated the first set, both hammered the ball with unrelenting force following the 47-minute rain delay which came when Rune led 3-0 in the second set.
From 2-5, Sinner rallied to level at 5-5, saving two set points on serve at 4-5. However, Rune would not be denied, capitalising on Sinner errors to reel off eight of the last 10 points of the set to level.
In a tight deciding set, the 19-year-old used the drop shot effectively to pull Sinner around in a rivalry that fans will become accustomed to watching in the next decade. Locked in battle at the end of the third set, it was Rune who gained the decisive break in the 12th game of the set, triumphing when Sinner struck the net.
Sinner was competing in his third consecutive ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, having reached the last four in Indian Wells and the title match in Miami. The Italian, who beat Diego Schwartzman, Hubert Hurkacz and Lorenzo Musetti earlier this week, leaves the Principality 24-6 on the season.
from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/OYejpbk
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