Montreal Masters: Zverev edges past Rune in gripping encounter to reach quarter-finals

German Alexander Zverev, the second seed, beat Dane Holger Rune, the No 13 seed, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to reach the quarter-finals of the Montreal Masters at Stade IGA.

It was a gripping encounter, with Rune providing a courageous late resistance after Zverev had moved a set and a break up.

The first set was more one-sided, with the German breaking in the third and ninth games en route to a relatively straightforward opening stanza.

The second was much closer and came to a thrilling conclusion as Zverev broke in the eighth game only for the Dane to find his first and only break of the match a game later as Zverev served for the win at 5-3.

The set went to a deserved tiebreak which was equally dramatic. With Zverev in total command at 6-2, Rune saved four match points before finally succumbing 7-5 in the breaker to exit the tournament.

Zverev, meanwhile, marches onto the quarter-finals where he will face American Sebastian Korda next.

The German won against Australian Jordan Thompson (6-1, 6-1) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Rune, ranked No 17, defeated Spanish lucky loser Roberto Bautista Agut (6-2, 3-6, 6-2) and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta (6-1, 6-3).

Montreal Masters 1000, other last-16 results (Stade IGA, hard, USD 6.795.555, most recent results first):

• Arthur Rinderknech vs. Hubert Hurkacz: saturday
• Casper Ruud vs. Sebastian Korda
• Jannik Sinner (1) beat Alejandro Tabilo (15): 6-4, 6-3
• Alexei Popyrin beat Grigor Dimitrov (7): 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Kei Nishikori beat Nuno Borges: 6-3, 6-4
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 4-6, 7-6 (5), 3-0 ret.
• Andrey Rublev (5) beat Brandon Nakashima (Q): 6-2, 6-2