Holger Rune is the top seed at the Open Sud de France – Montpellier this week and he showed why on Thursday when he moved past Marc-Andrea Huesler 7-6(5), 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
Making his debut at the ATP 250, the 19-year-old produced a high-quality ballstriking display to earn his sixth win of the season. He overpowered Huesler with his aggressive groundstrokes and hit a range of winners past the onrushing Swiss to advance after one hour and 32 minutes.
“I had a plan and I respect him a lot. I lost to him twice, but today I was super focused,” Rune said in his on-court interview. “I played well, aggressively and stayed calm. I think I put a lot of first serves in. I was staying close to the baseline and trying to see every opportunity to come in and move him and play aggressively and this worked pretty well.”
With his victory, Rune improved to 1-2 in his ATP Head2Head series against Huesler, gaining revenge for his defeat against the 26-year-old in the Sofia final last year.
The World No. 9, who is the top seed at a tour-level event for the first time, will look to continue the quest for his fourth tour-level title when he plays Gregoire Barrere in the last eight.
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Third seed Borna Coric is up and running in Montpellier.
The Croatian produced a dominant performance on Thursday when he moved past Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP 250 event.
Coric, who is making his third appearance in Montpellier, was strong on serve throughout the one-hour, 30-minute clash. He did not face a break point and won 79 per cent (34/43) of points behind his first delivery to earn his fifth win of the season.
“In the second set, I just managed to break him and that was the key to the match. I also served very well today,” Coric said during his on-court interview. “I am very happy to be here again today.”
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The 26-year-old now leads Rinderknech 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series and will next meet Maxime Cressy after the American defeated seventh seed Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-4. If Coric defeats Cressy, he will return to the Top 20 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time since October 2019.
“I think we have never played before,” Coric said when looking ahead to his match against Cressy. “I need to go and watch back some of his matches. I know him but I have never hit with him or played against him. But I know his serve is very, very big, so it is going to be a similar match to today.”
In other action, Frenchman Quentin Halys reached his second tour-level quarter-final when he defeated fifth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3, 6-3, while Lorenzo Sonego beat Filip Krajinovic 7-5, 6-1. Halys will next play Arthur Fils, with Sonego taking on Jannik Sinner.