Holger Rune fought back to defeat the Serb in the Paris Masters final
19-year-old Holger Rune scored arguably the biggest win of his career on Sunday to fight back from a set down to dethrone six-time Paris Masters champion Novak Djokovic in a scintillating performance on center court on Sunday.
Danish up-and-comer Rune earned the first ATP Masters 1000 win of what promises to be a trophy-laden career with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over the Serbian superstar, showing a grit which belies his relative inexperience along the way.
It seemed as though Rune might be overcome by the situation after a noticeably slow start as he lost the first set to Djokovic. However, he fought back from a 0/40 score in the first game of the second set as well as a 1-3 disadvantage in the decider to etch his name on the trophy and announced himself as new contender for the sport’s biggest honors in the process.
The dramatic conclusion to the encounter saw Rune fend off six break points late on as Djokovic attempted to clinch what would have been his 39th Masters 1000 title – but each time Rune was able to dig deep and play some stunning tennis which, even if he didn’t express it on the court, would surely have impressed Djokovic, one of tennis’ greatest-ever players.
Harder, Better, Faster, HOLGER 🏆
19-year-old @holgerrune2003 SHOCKS Djokovic to clinch his maiden Masters 1000 title in Paris!!#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/C7Z2s7xWJn
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 6, 2022