Holger Rune Becomes First Danish Male To Enter French Open Fourth Round In 63 Years

Before Holger Rune, Kurt Nielsen and Torben Ulrich were male players from Denmark to have entered French Open fourth round in 1959.

Updated on: 29 May 2022 9:50 am

Holger Rune defeated Hugo Gaston at French Open 2022 third round on Saturday.

Teenager Holger Rune has given Denmark a man in the fourth round at Roland Garros for the first time in 63 years. (More Tennis News)

The 19-year-old Rune, who won the French Open junior title three years ago, closed out the third round of the main draw by beating Hugo Gaston of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 at Court Philippe Chatrier on Saturday night. Rune has not dropped a set so far in the tournament.

He is ranked a career-high 40th and had never won a Grand Slam match until beating 14th-seeded Denis Shapovalov in his Roland Garros debut this week. No Danish man had made it this far in Paris since Kurt Nielsen and Torben Ulrich in 1959.

Rune will take on 2021 French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round. Meanwhile, the Greek Tsitsipas, 2021 runner-up, entered the last 16 on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 win over Sweden’s 95th-ranked Mikael Ymer.

On the other hand, Madison Keys became the fifth American woman to reach the fourth round at Roland Garros this year by coming back to beat Elena Rybakina 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (3).

This is the first year that the French Open is using third-set tiebreakers in women’s matches and fifth-set tiebreakers for men. The four Grand Slam tournaments all agreed this season to adopt a uniform system of first-to-10-points, win-by-two tiebreakers in deciding sets.

The 22nd-seeded Keys was the runner-up at the 2017 US Open and got to the semifinals at the French Open the following year. She now faces No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova. The 16th-seeded Rybakina beat Serena Williams at Roland Garros last year on the way to the quarterfinals, her best finish at a Grand Slam tournament.

Zheng Qinwen has become the fourth Chinese woman to reach the fourth round at the French Open, doing so in her tournament debut. The 74th-ranked Zheng was leading 6-0, 3-0 on Saturday when her opponent, France’s Alize Cornet, stopped playing because of what she said was a torn muscle in her upper left leg.

Cornet said she got injured during her previous match, a win against 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and considered not playing at all against Zheng. Zheng is a 19-year-old who is ranked 74th and playing in only her second Grand Slam tournament. She moved into a matchup against No. 1 Iga Swiatek.