Alex Corretja, Tim Henman praise ‘amazing’ Holger Rune after Stefanos Tsitsipas win at French Open

World No. 4 Tsitsipas made the final in Paris last year and was fancied for another deep run after landing on the opposite half of the draw to Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.

However, his chances of a maiden Grand Slam win were ended in the fourth round by 19-year-old Rune, who won in four sets to set up a meeting with Casper Ruud.

Rune is playing in only his third Grand Slam and had not won a match in his previous two attempts.

“A star is born,” said two-time French Open finalist Corretja on Eurosport.

“He was playing extremely well, hitting the ball as hard as he good, serving well, and his backhand down the line…it amazed me the way he was just playing and dealing with the whole situation. Everybody was watching and he was enjoying it.

“We have the new generation with no fear, they have fun on the court, they go for it, and beating Tsitsipas at Roland-Garros, you have to be super good and I think he is.

“He had so much confidence in his game, his forehand was big, his backhand was perfect and his serve, it’s very deep, it comes very high to the opponent. For Tsitsipas it was killing him on his backhand side.”

Rune came into the match against Tsitsipas full of confidence after not dropping a set in his previous three matches, including beating 14th seed Denis Shapovalov in the first round.

But former British No. 1 Tim Henman said he was still surprised that world No. 40 Rune managed to beat Tsitsipas.

“Amazing performance. I didn’t see that coming.

“I know Rune has been playing some good tennis but I felt with Tsitspas’ experience, weight of shots from the back of the court and his serving that he would come out on top, but that was not the case.”

While this was the first meeting between Ruud and Tsitsipas on tour, they have practised together on several occasions.

Corretja thinks that may have helped the Dane in his bid to secure an upset win.

“When you face someone very good who you know well you go on court feeling a bit more secure in yourself, but if you face someone you saw only on TV maybe it takes a while to figure out how to play.

“If you have been practising against them so many times you maybe aren’t as afraid. Rune was thinking ‘I am going to play my friend Stefanos and think I am going to beat him’ and he felt sure he could because maybe he has done it in practice.”

Rune and Ruud will both be playing in their first Grand Slam quarter-final when they meet on Wednesday.

Looking ahead to the match, Henman said: “Ruud has been a bit under the radar in this tournament. He plays a lot of tennis and has come through some tough matches.

“It’s a great opportunity for them both.”

Ruud beat Hubert Hurkacz in four sets to advance to the quarter-finals.

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