Rune claims epic win

No sweat for swiatek

PARIS – Holger Rune and Beatriz Haddad Maia triumphed in marathon French Open epics which took almost eight hours to complete on Monday while Iga Swiatek required just 31 minutes to move into the quarterfinals.

World No. 6 Rune reached a second successive quarter-final in Paris with his first ever five-set win.

The 20-year-old Dane claimed a four-hour 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10/7) victory against Francisco Cerundolo and will face 2022 runner-up Casper Ruud in a repeat of last year’s bad-tempered quarterfinal.

Rune was jeered by the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd for hitting the ball on a double bounce in the fourth game of the third set.

His 23rd seeded Argentine opponent stopped playing, expecting the umpire to call the point for him.

Play continued and Cerundolo, who was called for hindrance when he halted, dropped serve.

“This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life,” said Rune.

In a dramatic decider, Rune survived being 3-4, 0-40 to hold and then break.

Rune finished the match with 48 winners and 73 unforced errors.

“What a sport,” tweeted Cerundolo.

Haddad Maia won the third longest ever women’s match at Roland Garros to become the first Brazilian woman in the last eight of a Slam since 1968.

Haddad Maia battled from a set and 3-0 down to defeat Sara Sorribes Tormo in three hours and 51 minutes.

The 27-year-old left-hander came through 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-5 against her 132nd-ranked Spanish opponent on Court Suzanne Lenglen, the venue also for the Rune-Cerundolo clash later in the afternoon.

The match was just 16 minutes short of the record four hours and seven minutes it took Virginie Buisson to beat French compatriot Noelle van Lottum in the first round in 1995.

Haddad Maia is the first Brazilian woman in a Slam quarterfinal since seven-time major winner Maria Bueno in 1968.

She will face world No. 7 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia for a place in the semifinals.

“I am very happy and very proud that I didn’t give up and I think that is why I deserved this victory,” said Haddad Maia.

Defending champion and world No. 1 Swiatek set up a quarterfinal with Coco Gauff after Lesia Tsurenko retired from their last-16 clash through illness after just 31 minutes.

Swiatek was leading 5-1 when the 66th-ranked Tsurenko, who had called the doctor after experiencing dizziness and shortness of breath, decided not to continue.