Paris, June 3 (EFE).- For the second consecutive match, the German Alexander Zverev, fourth seed, had to play five sets to overcome the round at Roland Garros, this time against the Dane Holger Rune, whom he ended up defeating to compete for fourth consecutive year the quarterfinals, where the Australian Alex de Minaur, surprising executioner of the Russian Daniil Medvedev, awaits him.
Two days after having beaten the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor in five sets, the German had to apply himself again to beat Rune, the 13th favorite, who ended up losing 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (2) and 6-2 in 4 hours and 11 minutes.
It was well into the early morning when Zverev made the winning “smach.” After having eliminated the Spanish Rafael Nadal, winner of fourteen editions of the clay court Grand Slam, in his debut, and after having surpassed the Belgian David Goffin, the solidity of his tennis seems to have lost points.
The winner of the last edition of Rome, undefeated in the last ten duels, was pushed to the maximum by Rune, who lacked some strength and a little confidence to stage a new surprise in Paris.
But as happened against Griekspoor, the German reacted in time, stayed in the match and was much superior in the final stretch, when he scored the tiebreaker game, his specialty, in the fourth set and dominated the fifth.
Zverev, the only tennis player to have played in the last three Roland Garros semifinals, will look for a fourth against De Minaur, who qualified for the quarterfinals in Paris for the first time after surprising Medvedev, fifth seed, with sets of 4-6, 6 -2, 6-1 and 6-3.
