Monte Carlo, April 16 (IANS) Holger Rune of Denmark moved to within one win of capturing his second ATP Masters 1000 title after he moved past Italian Jannik Sinner 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a thrilling semifinal of the Monte-Carlo Masters.
With his 17th tour-level win of the season, Rune has improved to 2-0 in his ATP Head-to-Head series against Sinner. The Dane is up two spots to No. 7 in the ATP Live Rankings and can rise to a career-high No. 6 by claiming his eighth tour-level crown on Sunday.
In a battle between two of the brightest talents on Tour, it was the 19-year-old Rune who handled the conditions and pressure the best in a rain-disrupted clash on Saturday night.
The Dane struck his clean groundstrokes with aggression in the heavy conditions and recovered from a slow start against the 21-year-old Italian to advance after two hours and 46 minutes.
“It was quite unbelievable,” Rune said. “Jannik started firing, hitting a lot of winners and he has been in good form the past few months. I had to dig deep and find solutions, which I did well. It was fun to play like this.”
Rune, who had defeated Novak Djokovic in the championship match in Paris last season and will aim to clinch his second ATP Masters 1000 crown when he takes on Andrey Rublev in Sunday’s final.
Rublev overcame a resilient Taylor Fritz and damp conditions to reach the Monte-Carlo Masters championship match on Saturday. With victory in his first tour-level match against the American on clay, Rublev advanced to the Monte-Carlo final for the second time.
He fell to Stefanos Tsitsipas at the final hurdle in the Principality in 2021, but the 25-year-old will hope to banish memories of that disappointment when he meets Rune in Sunday’s championship match.
Rublev is a five-time champion at ATP 500 level but is chasing his maiden ATP Masters 1000 trophy this week at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. He is now 17-8 for the 2023 season, a tally that also includes a run to the Dubai championship match in February.
–IANS
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