Rune hoping for “less drama” in Roland-Garros quarter-final rematch with Ruud

It’s Casper Ruud vs. Holger Rune in the French Open quarter-finals. Does that sound familiar? It should! After all, they faced each other at this same stage of the 2022 tournament

Holger Rune at 2023 Roland Garros

Ricky Dimon

June 6, 2023

Casper Ruud and Holger Rune will go head-to-head in the Roland-Garros quarter-finals, just as they did last year.

That 2022 encounter won’t soon be forgotten. Not only was it competitive on the court (Ruud prevailed in a tight four-setter), but there was also plenty of bad blood involved. A feisty affair ended with a cold handshake before a war of words — and allegedly even some shouting — spilled over into the locker room.

“Obviously there was drama last year and I hope we can make less drama this year,” Rune said after defeating Francisco Cerundolo in a fifth-set tiebreak on Monday. “We played each other in Rome. It was a good match, I think.

“He’s a good player. I respect him. There’s no problem; we’re good. (It) should be a match without problems, hopefully. (I’m) just looking forward for it. Obviously I lost last year. It’s gonna be the same scenario; we play in a quarterfinal, maybe night session again, maybe not. We’ll see. Hopefully I can turn it around and make it different this year.”

Ruud leads Rune 4-1 in head-to-head series

As Rune mentioned, these two rivals recently faced each other at the Rome Masters and the 20-year-old Dane finally got the best of the match-up following four previous losses. Rune won 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2 in the semi-finals before falling to Daniil Medvedev in the title match.

There were no obvious incidents in their Rome meeting — just a first-ever win for Rune. Now the world No 6 hopes for more of the same a few weeks later: another victory and no drama.

“I think last year it was a great match,” he reflected. “It was (a) really close second and third set. He played great. He played I think one of his best tournaments last year here. So it’s going to be a tough match. I played him last tournament in Rome; managed to get my first win over him.

“But, yeah, it’s gonna be tough.”