By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday February 9, 2023
Danish teen Holger Rune powered into the last eight at Montpellier.
Photo Source: Getty
Holger Rune exacted a piece of revenge against Switzerland’s Marc-Andrea Huesler, the man who defeated him in last year’s Sofia final, on Thursday at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier.
Huesler, ranked 49, earned two wins against Rune last year, with each of them coming in straight sets, but on Thursday the Dane took care of business with a 7-6(5), 6-2 triumph in one hour and 32 minutes.
Rune dropped just 12 points on serve, and won 13 of 17 second-serve points as he saved both break points he faced.
Rune will face Gregoire Barrere, who defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili on Thursday, of France in Friday’s quarterfinals.
“I lost to him twice, but today I was super focused," Rune said in his on-court interview after improving to 6-2 on the season. "I played well, aggressively and stayed calm. I think I put a lot of first serves in. I was staying close to the baseline and trying to see every opportunity to come in and move him and play aggressively and this worked pretty well."
Ninth-ranked Rune improves to 31-8 lifetime indoors. He won two of his three titles indoors last year, at Stockholm and Paris.
Borna Coric (d. Rinderknech), Quentin Halys (d. Davidovich Fokina), Maxime Cressy (d. Emil Ruusuvuori) and Lorenzo Sonego (d. Krajinovic) also advanced on Thursday in Montpellier.
The quarterfinals shape up as follows in Montpellier: