Rune denies Monfils' double duty attempt, Draper survives Felix

Holger Rune held his nerve in a topsy-turvy third set Friday to pull away from Gael Monfils 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advance to the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals. The 15th seed is the first Danish man to reach the last eight in the tournament’s Open Era history.

"It took some patience for sure," said Rune. "I wasn't totally on top of the first set. He was serving big, had to get used to the conditions a little bit. He came from an incredible win earlier, so obviously he was very confident. I had to find my rhythm."

Monfils came flying out of the blocks, building upon his momentum from upsetting second seed Carlos Alcaraz in their rain-hindered match earlier in the day. Rune then gained an advantage by looking for early opportunities to move forward, converting 25 of his 33 net points across the two-hour, 14-minute match.

"I changed a little bit of tactics from the beginning of the second set and I tried to stay on that throughout the whole match, and it seemed to work," said Rune.

Next level net play @CincyTennis ?

1️⃣9️⃣ Volley #WinningPlays by @holgerrune2003 with 1️⃣2️⃣of those coming the crucial 3rd set vs Monfils #WinningPlays:
✅ Highlight a specific winning tactic
✅ Recognise that the "key" shot is not always the winner or the last shot in the… pic.twitter.com/xAdzg0qxgW

In the 21-year-old’s opening service game of the final set, he trailed 0/40, but eventually held after nearly nine minutes, deflating the Frenchman’s hopes of becoming the tournament’s oldest quarter-finalist. He then broke Monfils to love and rarely looked back.

Rune, aiming for his second ATP Masters 1000 trophy, saved seven of the eight break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to win his first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Monfils.

As the match wore on, the 37-year-old Monfils appeared to fade physically, but not without flashes of his shotmaking ability to the roars of a packed Center Court crowd.

Watch Rune, Monfils' Point Of The Year Contender:

Into his third ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final of the season (Indian Wells, Monte-Carlo), Rune will next meet Jack Draper. Rune, No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings, boasts a 32-16 season record.

Draper advanced to his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final and first in two years (2022 Montreal) with a hard-fought 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Felix Auger-Aliassime. The lefty, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round after the Greek served for the match, won his third consecutive three-setter.

Draper applied constant pressure on the Canadian’s serve throughout the two-hour, 37-minute battle. The 22-year-old played 33 less points on his serve and fended off the lone break point he faced.

The match ended in unusual circumstances on a disputed Draper low volley, which was ruled good but replays showed the ball caught the bottom of Draper's frame and ricocheted off the court before falling over the net.

Fifth seed Hubert Hurkacz also advanced in three sets. The Pole marched past the in-form Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 after converting three of his 10 break chances. Hurkacz will face Frances Tiafoe or Jiri Lehecka in his 15th career ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

[NEWSLETTER FORM]