Rune saves 2 MPs vs. Dimitrov to complete Monte-Carlo double duty | ATP Tour

Match Report

Rune saves 2 MPs vs. Dimitrov to complete Monte-Carlo double duty

Ruud, Humbert advance to set QF showdown

April 11, 2024

Down but not out, Holger Rune saves two match points to topple Grigor Dimitrov in Monte-Carlo.
By ATP Staff

Returning finalist Holger Rune put his Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters campaign into overdrive on Thursday with a hard-fought double. The 20-year-old finished off a rain-delayed opening win against Sumit Nagal early in the day before returning to court to edge the in-form Grigor Dimitrov in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon, saving two match points at 5-6 in the final set.

The Dane’s 7-6(9), 3-6, 7-6(2) victory, which levelled the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 2-2, set a new record for longest best-of-three match in Monte-Carlo history (since times started being recorded in 1991). Rune’s reward is a Friday quarter-final showdown with Jannik Sinner, who beat Dimitrov in the Miami final last month.

“It was a great match,” the seventh seed said in his on-court interview. “I thought I played a very good first set, it was very long, one-and-a-half hours. So it was tough physically. I had a match earlier today which was two sets, so I played five sets today actually, which is pretty brutal.

“To beat Grigor, who’s played such a good season, and last season, and to get my revenge is a great feeling. I played very good and I’m happy to beat him.”

Double Duty? NO PROBLEM ????@holgerrune2003 saves TWO MATCH POINTS before defeating Dimitrov in an EPIC 7-6(9) 3-6 7-6(2), his second match of the day and sets up a quarter-final clash against Sinner!

#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/s2QsBeK3vD

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 11, 2024

Rune needed five set points to win the first-set tie-break and bravely saved two match points in a marathon 5-6 game in the final set. Dimitrov battled back from 40/0 in that game, forcing deuce with a disguised drop shot on a would-be overhead, but he had no answer for Rune’s big hitting on his match points.

The Dane stormed out to a 4/0 lead in the decisive tie-break and wrapped up the win with aggressive hitting from the baseline. Rune saved seven of 10 break points in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, fighting deep into what was his fifth set of the day to avenge a defeat to Dimitrov in January’s Brisbane final.

In addition to being the longest three-set match in Monte-Carlo’s recorded history — edging out two three-hour, 29-minute matches (Coric vs. Munar, 2019 2R; Lapentti vs. Safin, 2009 2R) ‚ the Rune-Dimitrov marathon was the third-longest match of any kind at the ATP Masters 1000.

Longest Matches In Monte-Carlo History