Rome Masters: Rune to face Djokovic in quarter-finals

Dane Holger Rune, the No 7 seed, reached the quarter-finals of the Rome Masters by edging out Australian qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 at the Foro Italico on Tuesday.

Rune, ranked No 7, will face Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed, next.

This will be Rune’s third Masters 1000 quarter-final; in both previous runs in such an event, he has reached the final, winning once (in Paris last year, against Djokovic).

He is now 17-3 against players ranked outside the Top 50 this season, winning all eight matches of that type on clay.

The 20-year-old Dane defeated French qualifier Arthur Fils (6-3, 6-3) and Italian wildcard Fabio Fognini (6-4, 6-2) ahead of his victory.

Earlier in the tournament, Popyrin, ranked No 77, won against Christopher O’Connell (6-2, 7-6 (5)), Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 10 seed (6-4, 4-6, 7-5) and Russian qualifier Roman Safiullin (7-5, 7-5).

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Rome Masters, other last 16 results (Foro Italico, clay, EUR 7.705.780, most recent results first):

• Borna Coric vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Alexander Zverev vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Andrey Rublev vs. Yannick Hanfmann
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Jannik Sinner
• Casper Ruud vs. Laslo Djere
• Novak Djokovic beat Cameron Norrie (13): 6-3, 6-4