Holger Rune edged past Marc Andrea Huesler 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 after 1 hour and 32 minutes to advance to the quarter-final at the Open Sud de France.
Huesler saved three break points in the first set, which went on serve en route to the tie-break. Huesler earned a mini-break lead twice in the tie-break, but Rune pulled back the break both times to draw level to 4-4. The Dane earned another mini-break to seal the tie-break. Rune then broke twice in the first and third games of the second set to close out the match.
The 19-year-old Danish star has won his sixth match of the year and improved to 1-2 in his three head-to-head matches against Huesler. The Dane avenged his defeat against his Swiss rival, who won their most recent head-to-head match in the final of the 2022 Sofia Open.
Rune has set up a quarter-final against Frenchman Gregoire Barrere.
“I had a plan and I respect him a lot. I lost to him twice, but today I was super focused. I played well, aggressively and stayed calm. I think I put a lot of first serves in. I was staying close to the baseline and trying to see every opportunity to come in and move him and play aggressively and this worked pretty well”.
Last year’s Cincinnati Open champion Borna Coric saw off Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3 7-5 with a break in each set to reach the quarter-finals in his third appearance in Montpellier. The Croatian player did not face a break point and won 79% of his first serve points. Coric has improved to 2-0 in their head-to-head matches against Rinderknech.
Coric set up a quarter-final against Maxime Cressy, who beat Emil Ruusuvori 6-4 6-4. Coric will return to the top 20 for the first time since 2019.
“I think I have never played against Cressy. I need to go and watch back some of his matches. I know him but I have never hit with him or played against him. I know his serve is very big. It is going to be a similar match to today”, said Coric.
Lorenzo Sonego beat Filip Krajinovic 7-5 6-1 to set up an all-Italian quarter-final match against Jannik Sinner. Sonego earned his first break on his first set point at 6-5. The Italian player earned two breaks in the second and fourth game and held his next service games to win the second set 6-2.
Frenchman Quentin Halys saw off Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3 6-3 to advance to his second quarter-final on the ATP Tour where he will face his compatriot Arthur Fils.
