After Holger Rune closed his 2022 ATP Tour season by beating Novak Djokovic within the Rolex Paris Masters remaining, the pair squared off once more thrice this 12 months. Every match went the gap, all three-setters on a number of the sport’s largest levels — in Rome, Paris (once more) and on the Nitto ATP Finals
ATPTour.com seems again at their memorable matchups for 2023.
Rome QFs, Rune d. Djokovic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
Rune earned his second straight win in opposition to the Serbian and, for the second, moved forward 2-1 of their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry with a focussed effort in wet Rome. Djokovic clinched the second set after the gamers returned from a rain delay, however Rune composed himself to wrestle away the match on the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Rune made Djokovic work to shut out the center set from 5-2, however Rune had little bother in closing out the victory after constructing a 4-0 lead within the decider — his third-set surge aided by a vexing mixture of energy and contact, together with a number of well-timed drop photographs.
“It is actually an enormous win for me,” mentioned Rune, who transformed on 5 of 10 break probabilities and hit 26 winners to Djokovic’s 22. “Clearly I did it final 12 months in Paris as effectively, however each match is a large problem for me once I play in opposition to Novak. He is one of many best that is ever performed the sport… I am tremendous pleased with myself and I loved each second on the market.”
Paris QFs, Djokovic d. Rune 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4
In a hotly anticipated rematch of their 2022 Rolex Paris Masters remaining, Djokovic earned double revenge by reversing each that end result and the result in Rome.
Whereas the result of their earlier Paris-Bercy assembly was doubtful till the final ball, Djokovic was decided to safe a extra simple end result this time round. He almost completed the job in straight units, however Rune saved a match level at 4-5 within the second and located a harmful rhythm from the bottom to energy via the top of the set.
However Djokovic rapidly regrouped to notch an early break in set three, and he supplied Rune little hope of a comeback by making only one unforced error within the decider.
“It was fairly the same match to final 12 months’s remaining, it was anyone’s sport in each set,” mentioned Djokovic, who would go on to win his record-extending seventh Paris-Bercy crown and fortieth ATP Masters 1000 title. “Credit score to him for staying mentally robust and taking part in stable. Now we have related video games: transfer effectively, defend effectively and we’re all-round gamers.”
Nitto ATP Finals RR, Djokovic d. Rune 7-6(4), 6-7(1), 6-3
Taking part in for the second time in 10 days, Djokovic and Rune once more battled for 3 units to open their campaigns in Turin. In his Nitto ATP Finals debut, Rune once more gave Djokovic all he may deal with.
Prolonged all-court exchanges had been the norm regardless of quick situations on the Pala Alpitour, such had been the defensive expertise on show from each opponents. After two heart-pounding units, each by way of bodily exertion and drama, Djokovic pulled away within the decider — however not earlier than Rune recovered an early break to emphasize the Serbian as soon as extra.
“It took all the pieces,” mentioned Djokovic, who clinched ATP Yr-Finish No. 1 introduced by Pepperstone honours for a record-extending eighth time with the win. “I noticed within the first sport, when he fired photographs from the baseline within the first three or 4 factors, I knew that it was going to be a tricky life for me. If I wished to win this match, I used to be going to need to work actually laborious… He was feeling the ball effectively, he was sharp. Very aggressive, each quick ball he was coming in and he served terrific.”
Within the remaining match of round-robin play, Rune almost superior to the semi-finals on the expense of Djokovic, however the Dane was turned again in three units by dwelling favorite Jannik Sinner. Djokovic would go on to defeat Sinner within the remaining to win his seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown, breaking a tie with Roger Federer.
