Rune rolls over Draper to reach Cincinnati semi-finals

Holger Rune, the No 15 seed, reached the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters by winning against Jack Draper 6-4, 6-2 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center on Sunday night.

“I said after the first round that I would need to get better to go deep and here I am playing some very, very good tennis,” Rune beamed. “It’s just about the process and I’ve been working hard from the first match.

“The scoreboard was not really how it felt out there,” added Rune, who had not won a match at the Cincinnati Masters before this week. “I had to play some very aggressive tennis because Jack was going after it, especially in the second set. But I managed to stay tough and raise my level as well, so it was a great match from my side.”

Rune, ranked No 16, will play American Frances Tiafoe next.

In the previous rounds of the Cincy Open, the 21-year-old Dane defeated Italian wildcard Matteo Berrettini (2-6, 6-1, 6-4), Portuguese qualifier Nuno Borges (6-3, 7-6 (8)) and Frenchman Gael Monfils (3-6, 6-3, 6-4).

Draper, ranked No 27, beat Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar (7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (5)), Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 9 seed (3-6, 6-4, 7-5) and Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (5-7, 6-4, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

Cincinnati Masters 1000, other last eight results (Lindner Family Tennis Center, hard, USD 6.795.555, most recent results first):

• Frances Tiafoe beat Hubert Hurkacz (5): 6-3 ret.
• Alexander Zverev (3) beat Ben Shelton (12): 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Andrey Rublev (6): 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

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