World number one Novak Djokovic was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the clay tournament in Rome. The Serbian tennis player was defending his title at the Masters tournament and was attacking for the seventh triumph, but this time he was stopped before the gates of the semi-finals by the seventh seeded Holger Rune. The 20-year-old Dane won 6:2, 4:6 and 6:2.
Rune had an even balance of 1:1 before the match with Djokovic, he beat the 35-year-old Serb in the Masters final in Paris last year. He also started today’s duel brilliantly, winning the first set smoothly. In the second set, Djokovic rallied and jumped to 4-2. But he lost serve in the ninth game and the Dane served at 4:5 to tie the score. However, he lost the first two balls, followed by a stoppage of more than an hour due to rain. Returning to the court, Djokovic won two straight exchanges to force a third set.
He did not enter it well. After two lost serves, he was losing 0:4, and Rune finished the match with clarity. In the quarter-finals of a major tournament in Rome, he succeeded against Djokovic for the first time since Tomáš Berdych, who eliminated the star Serb at this stage ten years ago.
The surprising campaign of the Hungarian tennis player Fábián Marozsán in the tournament in Rome was ended by the Croatian Borna Čorič in the round of 16. The fifteenth seed defeated the world’s 135th player after a turnaround 3:6, 6:4, 6:3. Čorič has a chance to repeat his semi-final appearance from the previous clay tournament in Madrid, his next opponent will be the fifth seed and last year’s finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece.
Marozsán got into the main competition from the qualification and surprised with wins over Jiří Lehečka and world number two Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. He was not enough except for Čorič, who celebrated progressing after two hours and 10 minutes.
“I worked hard in the last months, but I didn’t play well. It wasn’t until last week that I started to feel better, to play better. It just paid off,” boasted Čorič after the match, which ended shortly after midnight.
He has a 2:2 record with Tsitsipas at ATP tournaments.
Tennis tournament for men and women in Rome (clay):
Men (subsidy 7,705,780 euros):
Singles – 4th round: Tsitsipas (5-Greece) – Musetti (18-It.) 7:5, 7:5, Corič (15-Croatia) – Marozsán (Hungary) 3:6, 6:4, 6:3.
Singles – quarterfinals: Rune (7-Dan.) – Djokovic (1-Serb.) 6:2, 4:6, 6:2.
