It’s a small feat that the Danish prodigy, Holger Rune, has just achieved by beating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Paris Masters. He played there his fourth final in as many tournaments: he had lost in Sofia, won in Stockholm and lost again in Basel.
After winning the first tournament of his career in Munich in May, he won his third and finest title in Paris, both in terms of the prestige of the tournament and that of the opponents eliminated: after saving three match points in the first round against Stan Wawrinka, he beat five members of the World Top 10: Hubert Hurkacz (10th), Andrey Rublev (9th), Carlos Alcaraz (N.1, abandonment), Félix Auger-Aliassime (8th) and Djokovic (7th).
First Dane in the Top 10
“You completely deserve this victory, Djokovic told him. What an extraordinary week, I’m not happy that you beat me, but I’m happy for you”.
Rune becomes the first player since the creation of the ATP to beat five Top 10 players in the same tournament (excluding the year-end Masters).
He also becomes the youngest winner in Paris since Boris Becker who was 18 when he won the first edition of the tournament in 1986.
A disputed final
Djokovic, imperial on his face-off, won the first round and raised fears of a one-sided final.
But he was unable to materialize any of the three consecutive break points he got at the start of the second set and the meeting then tipped in favor of Rune who was playing his first Masters 1000 final.
At the end of the match, feverish, tired, Run had to save six break points but finally won on his second match point by benefiting from a half-volley from Djokovic which did not cross the net.