Rune magic downs Tsitsipas at Indian Wells Masters

Holger Rune, the No 12 seed, reached the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells Masters by winning against Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 8 seed, 6-4, 6-4 in California on Tuesday.

The Dane produced one of the best performances of his young career to snap Tsitsipas’ seven-match winning streak and reach the last eight in Indian Wells for the second time.

It was a mix of a disciplined gameplan that saw Rune patiently attacking his opponent’s backhand, as well as some touches of magic, including an outrageous tweener lob, that got the world No 13 over the line.

“It feels very good. I think it was an extremely good match from my side, from start to finish,” Rune said after the one-hour, 28-minute match.

“I stayed very committed to my gameplan. Mentally, I was very, very good. I think that’s what made the difference – how composed I was able to stay. Obviously Stef is back in shape, so yeah, it was a cool battle.

“The tweener – that’s the first thing I’m going to check when I get back to my phone.”

Rune extends head-to-head lead over Tsitsipas to 4-0

Rune’s match up against Tsitsipas is quickly becoming one he enjoys, with the Dane having now beaten the former world No 3 in each of their four meetings.

The opening set was characterised by rain delays, with the stop-start affair remaining on serve across the first six games despite both defending breakpoints early on.

Things began heating up when Rune broke in the seventh game of the first set, only to be broken right back for 4-4. He made it three breaks in a row the very next game, breaking Tsitsipas for a 5-4 lead. The trend almost continued when Rune fell behind 0-30 as he attempted to serve out the set, but he fought back well to close out the game and take a one-set lead.

In the second, Rune also found the first break, which would prove to be the only one of the second stanza. It came in the fifth game off the back of Rune taking big cuts on the forehand return and finding success, despite Tsitsipas being up 40-15 on serve.

After Tsitsipas was given a code violation for firing a ball into Rune’s bag in frustration, the Greek very nearly gained a break back soon after.

Tsitsipas developed a 15-40 opportunity on Rune’s serve with two chances to level the second set. On the first, Rune found himself chasing down a Tsitsipas forehand, and produced a shot-of-the-year contender as he jammed a tweener lob over Tsitsipas’ head onto the baseline to win the point. On the second break point, the Dane held his nerve in a long exchange, steadily grinding down Tsitsipas’ backhand to extract an error.

Rune would go on to hold and then serve out the set in his next service game, moving into the Indian Wells quarter-finals for the second time.

Rune, ranked No 13, will face Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor next.

The 21-year-old Dane beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet (6-2, 6-4) and edged out Frenchman Ugo Humbert, the No 18 seed (5-7, 6-4, 7-5) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Masters, Tsitsipas, ranked No 9, defeated Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild (6-2, 6-4) and Italian Matteo Berrettini, the No 28 seed (6-3, 6-3).

Indian Wells Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 13.042.410, most recent results first):

• Tommy Paul vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Grigor Dimitrov vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Alex De Minaur
• Jack Draper vs. Taylor Fritz
• Brandon Nakashima vs. Ben Shelton
• Marcos Giron vs. Arthur Fils
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Yosuke Watanuki (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-1