Casper Ruud battles past Holger Rune in a gritty four-set match to reach his first French Open semi-final

Casper Ruud battles past Holger Rune 6-1 4-6 7-6(2) 6-3 to reach his first ever Grand Slam semi-final.

Ruud, widely regarded as a clay-court specialist, was put to the test by an impressive Rune, but it was the Norwegian who came out on top in four sets to book his place in the final four.

The 23-year-old will face Marin Cilic in the next round as he looks to win his first Grand Slam title.

Ruud admitted after the match that he was feeling nervous playing in his first French Open quarter-final in the evening session, and credited Rune for an impressive performance.

“I had a lot of nerves all day,” he told Eurosport’s Mats Wilander after the match.

“When you’re waiting all day to get going. It’s tough to find calm and peace during the day, but I was able to sleep a little bit after breakfast and wanted to delay the day a little bit.

“I came here around 3pm-4pm, I did all the preparations. I started great but then Holger fought back well, raised his level and I had a really tough match in the end there.

“He has improved a lot. I’ve played him four times already in my career. I’m probably the player who has played him most on tour so I know a little bit how he plays but he has become much more dangerous, more unpredictable.

“He plays fearless, plays a lot of big shots and makes a lot of them so he makes it challenging for you and he’s going to be a dangerous player for many years.”

Ruud got off to a sublime start with his blistering forehand proving too much for Rune. The Norwegian converted his third break point in the second game before quickly surging into a 5-0 lead.

Rune looked close to boiling over midway through the first set and was chuntering away at his box, but he regained his composure and there was a warm applause from the Philippe-Chatrier crowd when he got on the scoreboard on serve to make it 5-1.

Ruud wasted no time wrapping up the set on his serve and sealed set point when Rune fired a wasteful backhand into the trams.

Rune changed his rhythm in the first game of the second set with three drop shots and a serve and volley getting him straight on the scoreboard. Rune smacked his racquet on the ground at 1-1 to hand Ruud his first break point of the second set.

Rune would hold that game, but on his next service game he was broken when he mishit a vicious service return at the net. Nevertheless, Rune broke back immediately which sparked the raucous Parisian crowd into life.

And Rune got a breakthrough at 5-4 up, reeling off four points on the Ruud serve to level the match.

The third set was incredibly tight up until Ruud got the break he was looking for in the seventh game, going 4-3 up as Rune sent his forehand crashing into the net.

Rune was fired up at the changeover and just like in the second set he broke back immediately thanks to a Ruud unforced error off his backhand.

The two battled hard to a tie-break and Ruud dug deep to eek out a mini-break to go 4-2 up. He did not look back after that, moving to within a set of the semi-final with a crushing cross-court winner.

Both players were deadlocked until midway through the fourth set when Ruud finally got the break he was looking for.

After Rune saved three break points at 4-3 down, an unforced error from the 19-year-old gave Ruud what proved to be a pivotal moment.

A forehand winner brought up three match points for Ruud on his serve in the next game. He sealed the win with a winner that just caught the line.

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