Preview: Sinner, Rune Face Off For Monte-Carlo Final Place

ATP

The youthful semi-final lineup at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters features the event's fifth through eighth seeds, with young stars Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune joining 25-year-olds Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz in the last four.

Sinner and Rune will meet for the second time, while Rublev and Fritz — born eight days apart in October 1997 — are set for their seventh ATP Head2Head matchup.

ATPTour.com looks ahead to the Saturday singles slate in Monte-Carlo and previews the doubles semi-finals, where fifth seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek are the lone seeds standing.

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[6] Holger Rune (DEN) vs. [7] Jannik Sinner (ITA)

After his dominant win against fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti in Friday's quarter-finals, the 21-year-old Sinner provided a succinct preview to tease this blockbuster matchup.

"Two young players facing each other. Both of us, we are very aggressive," he said. "We try to do our thing on the court, different kinds of attitudes. It's going to be hopefully a very exciting match."

Both players are in imperious form in their first clay tournament of the season, with each playing first-strike tennis to great effect. Sinner and Rune will both seek to use their forehand to wrestle control of the rallies in this semi-final, with the Monaco crowd in store for an electric display of power tennis.

Sinner has been flawless since saving a match point against Hubert Hurkacz in the second set of their Thursday meeting. After escaping a tie-break to force a deciding set against the Pole, Sinner has lost just five games in his past three sets. His 6-2, 6-2 win against Musetti was a masterclass in attack tennis from start to finish. Sinner saved all five break points against him after Musetti broke the serve of Novak Djokovic eight times to reach the quarters.

Rune, 19, has not lost a set in his two Monte-Carlo matches. The Dane earned straightforward wins against Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medvedev either side of a walkover against Matteo Berrettini.

Previous ATP Masters 1000 Results This Season

After beating Medvedev in the pair's first ATP Head2Head meeting, Rune looked ahead to a matchup against either Sinner or Musetti: "It's going to be a great match no matter what,  he said. “Two young players, up and coming. [Although] they're already at the top, so it's not really 'up and coming.'" 

The same could be said of Rune. The Dane rocketed into the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings last November, when he beat five Top 10 players in succession to claim his biggest career title at the Rolex Paris Masters.

He also defeated Sinner last year in the Sofia semi-finals, winning their lone previous matchup when the Italian retired with an ankle injury while trailing 2-5 in the third set.

Rune and Sinner are neck-and-neck in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, with the Italian having entered this week 10 points ahead of Rune, beating him out for World No. 8. But it's Rune who leads the way in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, currently at No. 7 after improving on his second-round run as a qualifier last year in Monte-Carlo.

In the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Sinner sits in third place and could pass Djokovic for second by winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title, giving him a strong chance of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals on home soil.

[5] Andrey Rublev vs. [8] Taylor Fritz (USA)

Rublev and Fritz have made a habit of meeting on the ATP Tour's biggest stages. Of their six previous meetings, four came at the ATP Masters 1000 level and one came at the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals. The pair has never met on a clay court.

Fritz takes a three-match ATP Head2Head winning streak into Saturday, including a semi-final victory in Indian Wells last year on the way to the BNP Paribas Open crown. The American is also on a roll this year at the Masters 1000s; he is one of three men (Medvedev, Sinner) to have reached the quarter-finals or better at Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. 

After backing up his 2022 run to the Monaco quarters, Fritz went one better by beating two-time defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 6-4 on Friday. 

"I thought my level today was very high. I think I played a very good match. Beating him here gives me a lot of confidence," said Fritz, who is seeking his 11th tour-level final and his first on clay. "It has given me the reassurance I need to know I can play well on clay.

Outside of his progress to the last eight last year in Monaco, the American had never been beyond the third round at a clay-court Masters 1000 or at Roland Garros.

Rublev, a 2021 finalist in Monte-Carlo (l. to Tsitsipas), also reached the quarters at Rome that season and in Madrid the following year. He is seeking his first ATP Masters 1000 title, his 13th overall and his fourth on clay.

The fifth seed has won six straight sets to reach the semis, following up a comeback against Jaume Munar with straight-sets victories against Karen Khachanov and Jan-Lennard Struff.

One of the most popular players on the ATP Tour with fans and players alike, Rublev is now preparing to take on another friend in the semis after his previous meeting with longtime pal Khachanov.

Looking ahead to the matchup, Fritz was full of praise for the fifth seed: "He is a great player and a good friend and I am excited for the match," the Netflix Break Point star said. "He is tough."

Like the Rune-Sinner matchup, this one promises plenty of big hitting from the baseline, with neither man particularly fond of defending.

Doubles SFs

Dodig and Krajicek will seek to make the most of their status as the lone seeded team in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals when they take on Fabrice Martin and Andreas Mies on Saturday. The fifth seeds beat 2019 Wimbledon and US Open champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the opening round before receiving a walkover from Fritz and Rune in the quarters.

Martin/Mies earned their semi-final spot by upsetting top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski in a Match Tie-break on Friday.

Saturday's second doubles semi will see Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz face the Monegasque-Austrian pairing of Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn, with both matches set for centre stage on Court Rainier III.