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First Dane in the quarterfinals in Paris: Holger Rune
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CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
Scandinavian successes at the French Open: 19-year-old Holger Rune from Denmark and 23-year-old Casper Ruud from Norway made it into the quarter-finals of a tennis Grand Slam tournament for the first time in their careers at the Stade Roland Garros.
One of them will even make it to the semifinals as Rune and Ruud meet on Wednesday.
Rune's victory in particular came as a surprise.
The Dane won his round of 16 against world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas 7: 5, 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4 and thus ended the title dream of last year's finalist.
Last year, Tsitsipas lost to Novak Djoković in Paris after a 2-0 set lead.
"I'm so happy to be further in the tournament," said Rune after his strong performance on Court Philippe Chatrier.
"I was so nervous at the end, but I made it," said the Dane, who won the ATP tournament in Munich a month ago and defeated Zverev in the process.
Rune converted his first match point against Tsitsipas after 3:01 hours.
Ruud built on his previous strong performances in Paris with a 6: 2, 6: 3, 3: 6, 6: 3 against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz.
The Norwegian only slacked off a bit in the third set, but quickly recovered from it.
The world ranking night from Oslo has already won titles in Geneva and Buenos Aires this year and now spoke of a "milestone" in Paris.
Rune and Ruud are the first tennis players from their countries in the almost 100-year history of the tournament to have come this far in the classic clay court.
Kasatkina and Kudermetova in the quarterfinals
The two Russian tennis players Darja Kassatkina and Veronika Kudermetova reached the quarterfinals in the women's category.
No. 20 seeded Kassatkina defeated Italy's Camila Giorgi 6-2, 6-2.
Kudermetowa, listed at number 29, defeated the American Madison Keys 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 1.
sak/sid/dpa
