Queen’s: With “fire in the belly”, Rune moves into first career grass court semi-final

Dane Holger Rune, the second seed, advanced to the last four of Queen’s by winning against Italian Lorenzo Musetti, the No 6 seed, 6-4, 7-5 on Friday.

When he started his campaign in London, he had never won a tour-level match on grass.

Now Rune, ranked No 6, will face Australian Alex de Minaur, the No 7 seed, next as he bids for his first ever grass-court title on the ATP tour.

” I’m extremely happy to be in the first semi-final on grass,” he said in his post-match press conference. “It’s going much better. I think today was a good test to see where my level is at, because I was forced to play a lot of long rallies and move well.

Here Rune roar 🦁@holgerrune2003 defeats Musetti 6-4 7-5 to reach the Queen's SFs 💥#cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/9pad9S5g1G

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) June 23, 2023

“So I’m happy on where I stand right now. It’s going to be harder matches of course from now, but yeah, looking forward to it. I’m feeling better and better.”

He has reached this stage without dropping a set so far, and this match win is his 10th quarter-final win out of his last 11 – losing only at Roland-Garros to eventual runner-up Casper Ruud.

Rune: I’m in the semi-final – he’s not

He also had some words to say after getting hit by a Musetti overhead: “Of course he can do what he wants. I mean, it’s not the best thing to do, for sure. But again, it is legal. He can do what he want. He can hit the ball where he wants to.

“Yeah, for sure, this just give me fire in the belly to beat him even more. I’m super happy to manage to beat him in two sets. It feels good. I’m in the semi-final; he’s not. So I’m happy.”

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The 20-year-old Dane beat American Maxime Cressy (7-6 (4), 7-6 (3)) and wildcard Ryan Peniston (6-3, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Queen’s Championships.

Earlier in the tournament, Musetti, ranked No 16, defeated wildcard Jan Choinski (6-4, 6-2) and edged out American Ben Shelton (6-4, 4-6, 6-4).

London ATP500, other last 8 results (Queen’s Club, grass, EUR 2.195.175, most recent results first):

• Sebastian Korda vs. Cameron Norrie
• Carlos Alcaraz vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Alex De Minaur beat Adrian Mannarino: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4