(Tennis news) Holger Rune defeated Novak Djokovic 6-2 4-6 6-2 in the Italian Open quarter-finals. The Serbian tennis star was hoping to secure his seventh Italian Open title as he continues to prepare for the French Open, which will begin on May 28th. The result meant that 20 year old seventh seed Rune will now take on Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud in the semi-finals. 

It can be said that Djokovic hasn’t been 100% fit in this tournament and was forced to miss the Madrid Open recently due to an elbow issue. His participation in Rome was primarily meant to build his form and fitness ahead of the French Open later this month where he has the opportunity to overtake Rafael Nadal to win the most men’s major titles of all time. Despite not hitting top gear, Djokovic managed to defeat Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Grigor Dimitrov and British number one Cameron Norrie on his route to the quarter-finals. 

Djokovic received treatment for an injury in his match against Cameron Norrie and the Serbian was reluctant to share the details of the problem afterwards. Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz will overtake Djokovic next week as the world number 1 but the youngster has also been suffering with injuries recently. While Djokovic may not be 100% fit, the defeat against Rune is a testament to the Dane’s ability and mental resilience to outperform his more experienced opponent.

Rune took the opening set in just 38 minutes but lost focus in the second set after a line call went against him. He went on to lose his serve and went 4-2 down but teed up three break points and finished a fantastic 34 shot rally with a brilliant drop shot, thereby reducing the gap to 5–4. Djokovic stepped up his performance to threaten another break at 0-30 and secured the set once the play resumed after a break of over an hour due to rain.

However, Rune got his act together in the deciding set and moved a double break up for 3-0 and served out for a second straight win over Djokovic. With Djokovic eliminated and Nadal injured, it will be the first time since 2004 that the Italian Open won’t feature one of them in the final. In other results, French Open runner-up Casper Ruud defeated Argentine player Francisco Cerundolo 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 to reach the semi-final.

Also read: Novak Djokovic knocks out Cameron Norrie from Italian Open last 16