French Open: Casper Ruud dominates Holger Rune to enter semi-finals

The fourth-seeded Norwegian earned a 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory against Rune to continue his bid for a second consecutive final at the clay-court major

In an entertaining quarterfinal clash on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the fourth-seeded Norwegian Casper Ruud earned a hard-fought victory against Holger Rune to reach the semifinals of the ongoing French Open 2023.

The fourth-seeded Norwegian earned a 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory against Rune to continue his bid for a second consecutive final at the clay-court major.

The 20-year-old opponent of Ruud appeared to be feeling the effects of his five-set triumph against Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round as he struggled in the first two sets of the quarterfinal. Rune struggled to respond to the Norwegian's dominance in the rallies because the Dane consistently missed shots from the baseline and took unwise chances to try and shorten points.

Rune seized a lifeline with an early break in set three after saving a break point in the first game. His comeback attempt was encouraged by the evening Chatrier audience. Rune used his forehand to propel him through the set without having to face another break point, but his momentum was halted when Ruud broke for 3-1 in the fourth.

By coming up 15/40 in the succeeding return game and subsequently saving two match chances on serve to make it 3-5, the Dane forced his opponent to earn the victory. However, the fourth seed had little trouble serving out the set and won on his fifth match point to advance back to the semi-finals, where he is 3-0 at major tournaments.

"I'm very, very relieved. I came into this match just trying to play without pressure. But it's not easy, obviously. You're playing a big match and against Holger, it's never easy," ATP.com quoted Ruud as saying.

"He plays very aggressively. Luckily for me the first two sets he wasn't probably feeling it too well, he was doing a lot of errors, so I sort of got a lot of points for free. So that helped the nerves, but he fought back. The third set he came out playing better and then in the fourth set I was just lucky to get that one break and then keep it all the way out," he added.

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