At the end of the night, Zverev avoids the Rune trap at Roland-Garros!
Alexander Zverev went through another emotional rollercoaster on Monday. Already badly beaten in the third round (he won in 5 sets), he needed another huge battle to get through. Faced with Holger Rune, as unpredictable and combative as ever, the German came close to walking out of the tournament. Never giving up, he finally broke a Dane who was just a little less good (4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 in 4h15).
Very dominant, the world number 4 made life difficult for himself, but he'll be seeing out the quarter-finals. For a place in the semi-finals, he will face Alex De Minaur, the surprise winner over Daniil Medvedev.
It wasn't necessarily the most intense match we've seen at Roland-Garros this year. In a round of 16 where the two men didn't necessarily play their best tennis at the same time, it was almost against the run of play that this match ended at almost 2am.
Indeed, Zverev very quickly seemed to be a cut above the rest, but, cruelly lacking in realism and showing himself to be far more nervous than usual, he kept re-launching his opponent. Aggressive, Rune frequently hurt his opponent, but his irregularity ultimately cost him the match (60 winners, 50 unforced errors).
On the other side of the net, the world No. 4 took his time, but eventually overcame his own feverishness to win quite logically. He played a very solid game overall (61 winners, 39 unforced errors, 16 aces), and is now just three matches away from his ultimate goal (a Grand Slam title). That said, the time he spends on court could start to count for the German, especially if he wants to lift the Cup on Sunday.