French Open: No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev overcame a stern challenge from No.13 seed Holger Rune in four hours and 11 minutes on court in Monday’s night session to enter the quarterfinals of the French Open.
The German rallied from behind to deny the 21-year-old Dane a third straight quarter-final at Roland-Garros with a 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2 win in a match that ended at 1.40 am local time (5:10 am IST) on Tuesday.
Zverev won back-to-back five-setters to reach the fourth successive Paris quarterfinal and the sixth in the last seven years.
"I’m proud to be in the quarter-finals. I’ve played a total of eight-and-a-half hours in the last three days, so I need to recover, I need to do everything possible to be ready for the quarter-final match, because obviously, the tournament doesn’t stop here, and I want to continue," said Zverev after the win.
Now on a 10-match winning streak, he will next play against Australian No.11 seed Alex de Minaur, who upset fifth seed Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 earlier on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, for the third year in a row, Casper Ruud made it to the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros after beating Taylor Fritz 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
He will meet in the next round the one who deprived him of a crowned Major last year, Novak Djokovic.