One makes it to the semifinals
Tennis super talents stir up the French Open
05/30/2022, 10:30 p.m
At the French Open, the young stars are trumping this year. In the shadow of tennis prodigy Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune and Casper Ruud also made it into the quarter-finals. Now everything is possible for both of them. Because co-favorite Daniil Medvedev blunders unexpectedly.
The day before Super Tuesday with the tennis crackers between Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz as well as Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, two up-and-coming young stars caused a sensation at the French Open. 19-year-old Holger Rune from Denmark and 23-year-old Casper Ruud from Norway made it into the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in their careers at the Stade Roland Garros. One of them will even make it to the semifinals as Rune and Ruud meet on Wednesday.
On the other hand, the surprising end came for the second in the world rankings, Daniil Medvedev. The 26-year-old Russian unexpectedly lost 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 against Croatian Marin Cilic on Monday evening. The one-sided game was over after just 1:45 hours. Cilic now faces Medvedev’s compatriot Andrei Rublev in the quarterfinals. In his round of 16, Rublev benefited from an injury to his Italian opponent Jannik Sinner, who had to pass from Rublev’s point of view when the score was 1: 6, 6: 4, 2: 0.
Tsitsipas’ title dream bursts
In addition to Medvedev’s end, Rune’s victory came as a complete surprise. The Dane won his round of 16 against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 7: 5, 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 and thus ended the title dream of the fourth in the world rankings. Last year, Tsitsipas was in the final in Paris and lost to Djokovic after a 2-0 set lead.
“I’m so happy to be further in the tournament,” said Rune after his strong performance on the Philippe Chatrier court. “I was so nervous at the end, but I made it,” said the Dane, who won the ATP tournament in Munich a month ago, beating Zverev in the process. Rune converted his first match point against Tsitsipas after 3:01 hours. Ruud built on his previous strong performances in Paris with a 6: 2, 6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 3 against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz. The Norwegian only slacked off a bit in the third set, but quickly recovered from it.
Swiatek loses a set once
In the women’s category, world number one Iga Swiatek reached the quarter-finals despite losing her first set. The Pole won against the Chinese Qinwen Zheng 6: 7 (5: 7), 6: 0, 6: 2 and thus celebrated the 32nd win in a row. She now meets Jessica Pegula from the USA, who beat Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 4:6, 6:2, 6:3.
The two Russians Darja Kassatkina and Veronika Kudermetowa are also in the quarterfinals. No. 20 seeded Kassatkina won 6-2, 6-2 against Italy’s Camila Giorgi. Kudermetowa, listed at number 29, prevailed against the American Madison Keys 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1. Angelique Kerber was the last German to fail in the third round of the classic clay court.