Rune Awakening

The women's draw had seen plenty of upsets; but in contrast; in the men's draw there was none. Until now; that is. Unseeded youngster Holger Rune of Denmark produced a major upset by taking out the World No. 4; and one of the favourites for the tournament; Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas; in a four-set nail-biter.

The turning point in the match came when Rune decided to step further into the baseline to return Tsitsipas' shots early; thus putting more pressure on the Greek; with the Dane's backhand down the line proving particularly effective. Seldom have I seen a player taking his shots so early on the bounce and being so effective. It certainly made Tsitsipas very uncomfortable and almost at a loss for points.

The Greek was not helped by a mini-meltdown sometime late in the third set; when he was obviously not in control and started spraying shots all over the place. In contrast; Rune kept to his gameplan and knew he could keep Tsitsipas on the defensive by continuing to go deep.

In the fourth set; the tension was palpable as Rune struggled to finish the match off; while Tsitsipas was basically hanging on for dear life. Even though the Greek mounted a mini-revival of sorts; he was unable to shake off Rune; who kept his cool and composure to finish the match in four sets. He will next play fellow Scandinavian; another promising youngster Casper Ruud in a mouth-watering quarter-final.