Sinner survives bizarre clash with Rune to make Australian Open quarter-finals

Jannik Sinner survived a bizarre fourth-round match against Holger Rune at the Australian Open, defeating the Dane 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday in Melbourne.

For the better part of an hour, it looked as though the defending champion was on his way out of the tournament, with Sinner struggling physically in the second and third sets while Rune fired on all cylinders.

However, the top seed’s first serve – plus two lengthy delays to play – got the Italian through his toughest match of the tournament so far, booking him a place in the quarter-finals against either Alex de Minaur or Alex Michelsen.

“It was for sure very, very tough. I knew in my mind that he (Rune) had some long matches before this one, so I tried to stay there mentally,” said Sinner after the match, before expanding on his own physical woes.

“This morning was a very strange morning. I didn’t even warm up today, just trying to get on court as fit as I could. I knew in my mind that I would struggle today.

“I just tried to stay connected with my service game and see what happens. I have to say that game-wise I played well today.”

Sinner whisks through opening set

It was a fast start for the Italian, with the scoreboard reading 3-0 in the blink of an eye.

Rune seemed a little sluggish early on from his extra time on court over the opening three rounds – two five-setters and a tough four-setter – totalling two hours and 37 minutes more than Sinner.

As a result, he struggled to get his footwork correct in the first few games. The Dane sprayed a myriad of balls wide and long in the first half of the set, including losing opening service game to love.

There were some flashes from Rune – a bruising forehand return right past Sinner in the fifth game – but he was largely outplayed from the back of the court.

While he did settle eventually, the damage was done. With Sinner up a break and in control, the top seed was able to hold serve and close out the set 6-3.

Rune finds his range in second set

With 15 unforced errors to just five winners over the opening half hour for Rune, the No 13 seed needed to make a better start to the second set.

That happened, and quite significantly, as the 21-year-old reined in the errors and went toe-to-toe with Sinner from the baseline to produce a raft of scintillating rallies that thrilled the Rod Laver Arena early in the second set.

This increase in quality coincided with a noticeable drop at Sinner’s end. The Italian appeared to be struggling with a physical issue – gradually at first, but certainly noticeable in the second half of the set.

As Sinner’s woes became more obvious, Rune found his chance to break, pouncing in the eighth game as his opponent double faulted down 30-40.

Surprisingly, the world No 1 did not call the trainer between sets, instead choosing to push on despite his clear physical struggles.

Physical issues at the fore

In the third set, service holds became lop-sided, with Rune holding easily and Sinner battling at his end.

Sinner’s grit saw him hold two near-10-minute games early in the third, one of which produced the point of the tournament as the two went hammer and tongs in a 37-shot rally.

Sinner looked depleted, physically shaking at the change of ends and keeling over between points. Rune, meanwhile, was full of energy – perhaps due to all of the second serves he had been eating for dinner.

After the fifth game, the Italian called the trainer, which led to an 11-and-a-half-minute break in play as he received treatment off the court. When play resumed, little changed to the existing dynamic, and it looked like a matter of when, not if, Rune would break Sinner and claim a two-sets-to-one lead.

That is, until Rune had appeared to have a brain-fade of epic proportions.

In the eighth game, the Dane went away from the aggressive baseline tennis that had worked so well over the past hour, instead choosing to shorten points with dropshots and slices. He rushed his serve as well, and out of nowhere, handed Sinner a break of serve.

Rune then took a medical timeout for what looked like a knee issue, explaining the bizarre tactical change at his end.

Against all odds, in the next game, Sinner served out the set to love and took a set-lead heading into the fourth.

Net-gate on Rod Laver

But the drama wasn’t done in the fourth set.

After a straightforward hold by Rune to open proceedings, Sinner’s opening serve of the second game broke the net.

That’s right—his first serve struck the net, causing the bolt which attached it to the court between the two service lines to shear off in the ground, leaving the middle of the net flapping freely and needing to be fixed.

Cue another lengthy delay, long enough for both players to leave the court and meet with their teams in the locker room.

Also long enough for Sinner to shake off the remainder of his physical woes, as when play resumed – thanks to the timely intervention of a heroic maintenance man reminiscent of the Indian Wells bee-gate – the world No 1 was back to his full powers.

Sure enough, in just the third game Sinner earnt a breakpoint. The next point, a brutal cross-court forehand gained him the break.

Two games later, another opportunity presented itself and the Italian dealt Rune’s hopes a killer blow, going up a double break in the fourth. The deficit was too much for the No 13 seed, who fought hard to break back but was unable to penetrate Sinner’s serve, falling 6-2 in the fourth.

Sinner, ranked No 1, will play the winner of the match between American Alex Michelsen and Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 8 seed, next.

The Italian defeated Chilean Nicolas Jarry (7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1), Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate (4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3) and American Marcos Giron (6-3, 6-4, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the first Grand Slam tournament in 2025.

Earlier in the tournament, Rune, ranked No 13, won against Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4), Italian Matteo Berrettini (7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)) and Serb Miomir Kecmanovic (6-7 (5), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4).

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other last-16 results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Alex Michelsen vs. Alex De Minaur
• Gael Monfils vs. Ben Shelton: monday
• Lorenzo Sonego vs. Learner Tien: monday
• Novak Djokovic (7) beat Jiri Lehecka (24): 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
• Alexander Zverev (2) beat Ugo Humbert (14): 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Jack Draper (15): 7-5, 6-1 ret.
• Tommy Paul (12) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 6-1, 6-1, 6-1