Rune Remains Unbeaten In Munich, Fritz Downs Thiem

Holger Rune continued his love affair with the BMW Open by American Express on Friday when he moved past Chilean Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals in Munich.

The 19-year-old, currently at a career-high No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, lifted his maiden tour-level title at the ATP 250 event last year and moved to within two wins of matching that feat this week with a dominant display against Garin.

The Dane demonstrated his all-court game in front of the German fans. He hammered his groundstrokes, used the drop shot effectively and closed the net sharply to earn his 19th win of the season after one hour and 31 minutes.

“Today was tricky, especially in the second set,” Rune said. “There were some nerves as you might have seen, but it was good. I am very happy with the win. I have played a lot of matches, so the body is maybe not ideal. But I love this place and I love to play on this court in front of a nice crowd.”

Rune has made a strong start to his clay season, having reached his second ATP Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo last week. Rune, who leads Garin 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, is seeking his fourth tour-level trophy in Munich.

The second seed now holds a 7-0 record in Munich and will next meet Christopher O’Connell. The Australian upset Alexander Zverev earlier this week and backed that up by defeating #NextGenATP Italian Flavio Cobolli 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 to advance to his second tour-level semi-final.

Earlier, Dominic Thiem advanced to his second quarter-final of the season when he clawed past eighth-seeded Swiss Marc-Andrea Huesler 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.

After play was suspended midway through the second set on Thursday evening, Thiem returned on Friday and came out firing. The former World No. 3 broke Huesler three times across the second and third sets to advance after two hours and 38 minutes.

Thiem was unable to overcome Taylor Fritz in his second match later on Friday, though.

The American produced a dominant performance, moving past the Austrian 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals. The World No. 10 will meet Botic van de Zandschulp after the Dutchman defeated Marcos Giron 7-6(5), 6-3.

Fritz, who is making his debut in Munich, holds a 25-7 record on the season. He lifted his fifth tour-level trophy in Delray Beach in February before he advanced to the last four in Monte-Carlo last week.