Holger Rune: The teenager who eliminated Stefanos Tsitsipas from the French Open

The Dane, who has improved more than 350 places in the world rankings in the past 15 months, is currently ranked 40 in the world. With the victory over Tsitsipas, he has produced his best Grand Slam performance thus far.

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Rune never had won a Grand Slam match until last week, going 0-2 in previous appearances at the sport’s top four events.

The hard-hitting 19-year-old now joins sixth-seeded Carlos Alcaraz to make this the first Slam tournament with two teenagers in the men’s quarterfinals since Hendrik Dreekmann and Andrei Medvedev at the 1994 French Open.

🙌🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/VuRjRuPVz6

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 30, 2022

Last month, the 19-year-old shocked World No. 3 Alexander Zverev en route to his maiden ATP Tour title in Munich, before he reached the semi-finals in Lyon. He is 21-7 across all levels on clay this season.

Rune qualified for the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals last November and is in a good position to return to Milan this year following his exploits in Paris, currently sat third in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan, according to ATP Tour.

It’s your moment, @holgerrune2003 👏#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/0etFcp8mbG

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 30, 2022

As a junior, he was ranked as high as world No. 1 and won ten titles on the ITF Junior Circuit, including the 2019 French Open boys’ title. After turning professional in 2020, he won five titles on the ITF World Tennis Tour and five on the ATP Challenger Tour and made his top 100 debut in the rankings in January 2022.

Three months later, Rune reached his first ATP Tour final at the 2022 BMW Open, where he won his first title and subsequently entered into the top 50.

(With AP inputs)