Between pain and in the rain, Novak Djokovic has fallen this Wednesday against Holger Rune in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters (2-6, 6-4 and 2-6). The Serbian tennis player, still number one in the world until next Monday, went from less to more and again to less in a match that had to be suspended by rain when Nole performed better than his rival. The Dane won mercilessly during the first and third set to the six-time champion at the Foro Italico, who is already looking at Roland Garros and for which he hopes to be at the highest level, after missing the Madrid Masters due to his elbow injury.
Rune overcame the first game of the match with relative ease, in which he broke the serve of a suffering Djokovic with discomfort that made it difficult for him to reach some balls. In the second set the Serb turned up the revolutions to catch up with the Dane, but not enough to overcome him clearly. Rune, aware of Nole's physical discomfort, forced his opponent to stretch and force himself to reach some punches.
Djokovic did not show anywhere near his best, but he stood up to Rune, biding his time. Midway through the second set, after a stop by the Serb with the physiotherapist, events rushed against the Dane. A ball to the limit on the line, much discussed by Rune with the judge, gave the deuce to Djokovic, who two points later broke his opponent's serve for the first time in the match. The Serb also put the audience in his pocket, which at times chanted his name: "Nooole, Nooole!"
The Dane felt the pressure, his anger was transmitted to his game and he started making mistakes he hadn't had before. With the 5-2 in favor of Nole, Rune had another run-in with the judge during the break between games, while calling the physiotherapist shouting, which forced to extend the break a few minutes. After the return, the Dane took two games in a row and also began to win over the public, who no longer applauded on one side. The rain, which appeared shy at the beginning of the second set, began to fall harder and forced to suspend the match for an hour. With a 5-4 on the scoreboard, the sleeve could fall on the side of any of the players.
After the resumption, Djokovic took the game he needed to force the third and final set. The Serb had cooled down during the break and noticed it. Rune prevailed from the first game and overwhelmed the Serb, who resisted, but could not with the intensity of his rival. When Nole was able to take his first game, the Dane already took a lead of four, which ended up imposing the number one and is already in the semifinals.
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