Marathon man Rune into Monte Carlo quarters

Last year’s Monte Carlo finalist Holger Rune had to perform a strenuous double shift  on Thursday.

At the start of play he polished off a rain delayed carry over match beating Sumit Nagal and then came back to the courts to beat in form Grigor Dimitrov in a three and a half hour marathon.

The Dane saved two match points at 5-6 in the third set to claim a 7-6 (9), 3-6, 7-6 (2) victory.

The pairs head to head now stands at  2-2 and set a new record for the longest best of three match in Monte Carlo since recorded match times  began in 1991.

“It was a great match,” the seventh seed said in his post match interview. “I thought I played a very good first set, it was very long, one-and-a-half hours. So it was tough physically. I had a match earlier today which was two sets, so I played five sets today actually, which is pretty brutal”

Rune will next face in form Jannik Sinner in Friday’s quarter final.

Main photo:- Holger Rune on way to victory over Grigor Dimitrov – by ATPTour.com