Rune breaks duck against Griekspoor to reach Indian Wells semi-finals

Holger Rune recovered from a slow start to beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 for the first time on Thursday, sending him through to the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters.

In a match played in tricky, occasionally windy conditions, the Dane roared back from the loss of a first set he could easily have won to finally get the better of Griekspoor, who had won their two previous battles, both on clay.

Rune had even said that a third loss to Griekspoor would mean the Dutchman would be known on Tour as “his dad”, for such a one-sided head to head but made sure that didn’t happen with a fine performance, finhsing off with advance to the last four of the Indian Wells Masters at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Thursday evening.

Rune, ranked No 13, will face the winner of the match between Frenchman Arthur Fils, the No 20 seed, and Russian Daniil Medvedev, the No 5 seed, next.

Ahead of his victory, the 21-year-old Dane beat Frenchman Corentin Moutet (6-2, 6-4), Frenchman Ugo Humbert, the No 18 seed (5-7, 6-4, 7-5) and Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No 8 seed (6-4, 6-4).

Griekspoor, ranked No 43, defeated Serb Miomir Kecmanovic (6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3), German Alexander Zverev, the top seed (4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)), Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, the No 29 seed (7-6 (3), 6-3) and Japanese qualifier Yosuke Watanuki (7-6 (4), 6-1) in the previous rounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Masters.

Indian Wells Masters 1000, other last eight results (Indian Wells Tennis Garden, hard, USD 13.042.410, most recent results first):

• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Carlos Alcaraz
• Ben Shelton vs. Jack Draper
• Arthur Fils vs. Daniil Medvedev: thursday