Holger Rune becoming the breakout star of the 2022 French Open

Holger Rune (YouTube)

Raise your hand if you had heard of 19-year-old sensation Holger Rune of Denmark before the 2022 French Open. I admit. I was not one of them. But I have heard of Rune now, and one has to be extremely impressed.

Prior to the 2022 French Open, Rune had only played in two grand slam matches, and lost both. He qualified for the first round of the 2021 United States Open, where he was beaten by world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 6-1, 6-7, 6-2, 6-1, and then made the first round of the 2022 Australian Open, where he lost in five sets to Soon-Woo Kwon of South Korea, 3-6. 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

However heading into the 2022 French Open, Rune was starting to make a name for himself on clay. He won the Bavarian International Tennis Championship in April. Rune’s most notable win in Munich last month was a second round win over reigning Olympic gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany, where the Danish teen won 6-3, 6-2.

Then at the 2022 French Open, Rune had a tough opponent in the first round as he was up against the 14th seed Denis Shapovalov of Canada, who made tennis headlines earlier this month when he stunned by Rafael Nadal of Spain 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the third round of the Italian Open. However, Rune dominated the match in winning, 6-3, 6-1, 7-6.

Rune then won his next two matches at Roland Garros in straight sets. He beat Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland, 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round, and then beat Hugo Gaston of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in the third round.

Things were supposed to get tough in the fourth round. Wrong. On Monday, Rune upset the fourth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. All of a sudden, the 2021 French Open finalist is out. Rune will now play Casper Ruud of Norway, the number eight seed in the quarterfinals. Ruud is 3-0 all-time against Rune, including a 7-6, 7-5 win earlier this year in the second round of Monte Carlo. Rune is currently 40th in the world, and could soon be ranked in the top 25.

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