On the evening of April 12, Beijing time, in the just-concluded 1/4 finals of the ATP1000 Monte Carlo Masters, the No. 2 seed Sinner and the No. 7 seed Rune, two "post-00s", staged a youth duel again at the same venue after the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters last year. Australian Open champion Sinner was the better side, beating Rune 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 on aggregate to advance to the semi-finals, where he will face Greece's Tsitsipas for a place in the final.
Sinner
World No. 2 and Australian Open champion Sinner has undoubtedly become the hottest new king in men's tennis today, take a look at Sinner's brilliant results in the 2024 hard court season! 2024 Miami Masters champion, 2024 Indian Masters semifinals, 2024 Rotterdam 500 champion, 2024 Australian Open champion. As the No. 2 seed in the tournament, the Italian has reached the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo for the third consecutive year with a two-set 6-4, 6-2 win over Struff to reach the quarterfinals for the third year in a row, and the Italian has reached an astonishing 24-1 this season. "Post-00" Danish rising stars Rune and Dimitrov both suffered a one-day double match due to the rain, and the two sides fought for three and a half hours in the second game, and finally Rune relied on two tie-breaks to defeat Dimi 7-6(9)/3-6/7-6(2).
Rune
The 1/4 finals between the two sides can be described as a youth duel, and they have played each other 3 times in their careers, with Rune having the upper hand with 2 wins and 1 loss. In last year's Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals, Rune beat Sinner 2-1 to keep his opponent out of the final. But in the year-end finals, Sinner beat Rune by the same score. Time has passed and they meet again, and the popular fried chicken and number one favorite Sinner should not let the victory slip away, but the first three meetings between the two sides have been played in three sets, and Sinner must also be prepared for a hard fight.
In the first set, Rune took the lead in serving and held serve in the first four games, 2-2. In the fifth game, Sinner broke first and took a 4-2 lead. After that, they held serve separately, and Sinner relied on the only break of the first set between the two sides to take the lead 6-4.
In the second set, the two sides fought more fiercely, and both kept their serve and entered the tie-break 6-6. The tie-break battle can be described as ups and downs, Sinner won the match point at 6-4, and was defeated by Rune by four points in a row and lost the tie-break 6-8. Rune pulled one back 7-6.
In the deciding set, each held serve in the first seven games, and Sinner led 4-3. In the crucial eighth game, Sinner broke to make it 5-3. In the ninth game, Sinner's serve won the game, but Sinner did not let the opportunity slip away, successfully held serve, and won the deciding set 6-3.
Congratulations to Sinner for reaching the semifinals, his 25th win of the season, 9 consecutive wins, and all three Masters tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte Carlo this season to advance to the semifinals. Rune is two years younger than Sinner, just 20 years old to achieve this achievement, although defeated.
Tsitsipas
In the first quarter-final that ended earlier, two-time champion Tsitsipas defeated Khachanov in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, and changed his head-to-head record to 8-1, taking the lead in reaching the semifinals of Monte Carlo and making his 16th career Masters semifinals. Monte Carlo is worthy of the blessed land of Tsitsipas, Tsitsipas has won 16 wins and 1 loss in Monte Carlo in the last four years: 2021 Championship, 2022 Championship, 2023 Quarterfinals 2024 Semifinals, Since 2020, Tsitsipas has reached the semifinals of the Masters on clay, ranking first among all players! If Tsitsipas reaches the final and is expected to return to the top 10, of course, winning the championship will be the safest!
The other two quarter-finals: Djokovic vs De Minaur and Ruud vs Amber, who do you think will have the last laugh in the end?!