Roland-Garros: Rune wins yet another tie-break, into last 16

Holger Rune, the No 13 seed, won against Slovak lucky loser Jozef Kovalik 7-5, 6-1, 7-6 (2) to move into the last 16 of Roland-Garros in Paris on Saturday evening.

After having gone the distance in his last match against Flavio Cobolli, it was a much more commanding performance from Rune against Kovalik on Saturday. The Dane broke on five occasions, striking 38 winners and winning 83 percent of net points across the match.

He also won a 13th tie-break in a row, with a streak dating back to Montpellier in the first week of February and including a match tie-break in the third round at Roland-Garros. Rune now makes the round of 16 here in Paris for the third year in a row.

Rune, ranked No 13, will face German Alexander Zverev, the No 4 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, the 21-year-old Dane defeated Daniel Evans (6-4, 6-4, 6-4) and Italian Flavio Cobolli (6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6 (7)).

Kovalik, ranked No 145, edged out American Marcos Giron (7-6 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5)) and overturned the situation against Russian Karen Khachanov, the No 18 seed (4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4) earlier in the tournament.

Paris (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53.478.000, most recent results first):

• Novak Djokovic vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Casper Ruud: saturday
• Zizou Bergs vs. Grigor Dimitrov: saturday
• Taylor Fritz vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis: saturday
• Francisco Cerundolo (23) beat Tommy Paul (14): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2
• Hubert Hurkacz (8) beat Denis Shapovalov: 6-3, 7-6, 4-6, 6-1
• Alexander Zverev beat Tallon Griekspoor (26): 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (3)
• Daniil Medvedev (5) beat Tomas Machac: 7-6 (4), 7-5, 1-6, 6-4
• Felix Auger-Aliassime (21) beat Ben Shelton (15): 6-4, 6-2, 6-1
• Alex De Minaur (11) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3
• Corentin Moutet beat Sebastian Ofner: 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Sebastian Korda (27): 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (9) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
• Jannik Sinner (2) beat Pavel Kotov: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Andrey Rublev (6): 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4