Rune gets first five-set win, outlasts Cerundolo in super-tiebreaker

Holger Rune had played only two five-setters in his career and won none of them heading into his fourth-round match against Francisco Cerundolo at the French Open. But two matches gave him enough experience to be of use on Monday.

One of those five-setters in particular sticks in Rune’s mind. At the Australian Open earlier this season, the Dane lost to Andrey Rublev despite seizing a 5-2 advantage in the fifth set, holding two match points at 6-5, and leading 5-0 in the super-tiebreaker.

Another super-‘breaker had to decide Monday’s thriller. And this time Rune made no mistake. It had already been a roller-coaster ride for the 20-year-old, who led two sets to one, lost the fourth 6-1, dug out of a love-40 hole to hold at 3-4 in the fifth, and failed to serve out the match at 5-4. In the tiebreaker, though, Rune was steady from start to finish and won it 10-7.

“For sure, experience helps,” the world No. 6 reflected. “I think experience, you know, kind of helped me through to win today, because I had that tough loss in Australia against Rublev…. I told myself in the beginning of the match tiebreak just to try to play my tennis. You know, see how it goes. At least go off the court with a smile on my face, because I played a good match.

“Because if you think too much about winning and losing, you start to be tight and it hurts. I try to be positive and see the good things.

“So I could kind of try and do a few things different today. Actually was thinking of the match against Rublev when we started the match tiebreak. I told myself to act and to think differently, I mean, just to do something different than I did in Australia — because that didn’t work. I did that, and it was the right thing to do.”

Now Rune will look for another dose of redemption on Wednesday. Up next for him is a rematch with Casper Ruud, who beat him in last year’s French Open quarterfinals in a contentious four-set contest.