Rune recovery assures Dane a desert SF spot

Holger Rune delivered an ace on match point Thursday to complete a 5-7, 6-0, 6-3 fightback which put the Dane into the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters.

Rune fought his way back against Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, who has been on form over the past month, with a Dubai semi-final and a stunner here over top seed Alexander Zverev in the second round last week.

Rune, whose best showing in the Californian desert was a 2024 quarter-final, recovered with poise after losing an hour-long opening set featuring five breaks of serve.

The Dane will be playing his sixth semi at the Masters level after defeating Griekspoor for the first time in their three meetings.

The world No. 13 is the second from his country this century (Robin Haase, 2017 Montreal) to reach the final four at the elite level and second here behind Paul Haarhuis in 1996.

The match was interrupted twice in the opening set by rare spots of rain before both players were able to get on with the quarter-final job.

Griekspoor went away on the second set as Rune Levelled and the Danish seed continued his momentum in the third, with a concluding break in the fourth game enough to make the winning difference.

Rune became a teenaged Masters titleholder three years ago at Paris Bercy but has struggled this season after an Australian Open fourth round, with poor showings at events in Rotterdam, Buenos Aires and Acapulco.

Main photo:-Holger Rune into Indian Wells Semis – by ISF Ltd