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Place: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: May 28-June 11 |
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Coverage: Live text and radio commentary of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, the BBC Sport website and app |
Fourth seed Kasper Ruud is through to the semi-finals of the French Open for the second consecutive year after a hard-fought victory over Denmark’s Holger Rohn.
The Norwegian, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the final last year, won a thrilling encounter 6-1 6-2 3-6 6-3.
There was none of the fiery antics from last year’s match between the pair, with Ruud holding off a late surge from Roone to win.
Ruud will play Germany’s Alexander Zverev for a place in the final.
Former world number two Zverev earlier beat Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 to complete an emotional comeback at Roland Garros.
The 26-year-old German left the tournament in a wheelchair last year after seriously damaging ankle ligaments in his semi-final against Rafael Nadal, an injury that sidelined him for several months.
Zverev will face his toughest test yet against Ruud, while world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz plays 22-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final on Friday.
Ruud channels the “underdog” feeling to victory
In a repeat of last year’s quarter-final, Rooney started horribly under the lights, with Ruud breaking all but one of his service games in the first set, while the young Dane committed five double faults and 18 unforced errors.
His focus improved slightly in the second, but the unprovoked errors remained, allowing Ruud to take complete control, taking a two-set lead in just 68 minutes.
Sixth-seeded Rooney looked down and out, but after a quick break before the third set, he fired back, using the energy of the French crowd to shift the momentum, break early and serve out for the set.
Ruud, runner-up at last year’s US Open, won a break to lead a much-improved Rooney 3-1 in the fourth set and despite dropping two match points at 5-2, he held serve in the next game to claim victory.
In a tense last-eight clash last year, Rune accused Ruud of shouting in his face after the match, but his opponent vehemently denied the claims, saying it was a “big lie”.
This time, however, there were no signs of irritation, with the pair sharing a warm handshake at the net before Ruud celebrated his win.
“I looked at it as the favorite – he won the last time we played and he’s had a better year than me so far,” Ruud said.
“I felt like the underdog even though I was seeded number four and he was seeded number six.”
Zverev in last four after “toughest year of life”
Alexander Zverev left the French Open in a wheelchair last year after seriously injuring his ankle in his semi-final against Rafael Nadal
Zverev, spurred on by the crowd chanting his nickname ‘Sasha’, was pushed hard by unheralded world number 49 Etcheverry but eventually prevailed after three hours and 25 minutes.
After the pair embraced warmly at the net, Zverev let out a huge roar in celebration of securing a sixth appearance in a Grand Slam semi-final.
“As I’ve said before, last year was the hardest year of my life,” Zverev said.
“I love tennis with all my heart, I love the competition and it was taken away from me exactly one year ago.
“I’m very happy to be back on this stage and have the opportunity to play for a title again at Roland Garros.”
Twelve months ago, Zverev was pushing Nadal to the absolute limit – their two semi-final sets took more than three hours combined – before the fall that forced him out of the match and effectively cost him the rest of the 2022 season.
He faced a tough task against Etcheverry, with the world number 49 not dropping a set en route to a first Grand Slam quarter-final.
Zverev started strongly, breaking the 23-year-old’s serve in the seventh game of the first set and then saved two immediate break points before serving out.
Etcheverry responded impressively, breaking Zverev’s serve twice en route to leveling the match and the momentum looked to be in the South American’s favor when he broke in the opening game of the third set.
However, Zverev battled back from 0-2 down to win five games in a row to take the third before completing a tense fourth set to move ahead.