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Holger Rune’s Montpellier campaign came to a premature end after he was forced to retire from his semifinal contest against Borna Coric on Saturday (February 3).
The Croat was leading by a set (6-3, 4-1*) when Rune pulled the plug on the match after struggling with his right arm for a while. As he approached the net to shake hands with Coric, disappointed fans made their feelings heard with loud booing.
Tennis TV later shared a video of the closing stages, wherein the crowd could be heard voicing their disappointment.
Hampered by the issue on his right arm, Rune had struggled to hold serve throughout the contest. He was putting only about half his first serves in and winning just about 50% of the points behind the shot — which is otherwise a big weapon in his game.
Coric, meanwhile, was relentless in his attack. The Croat created as many as 10 breakpoint opportunities in the truncated contest, converting four of them. With this win, he moved through to the Open Sud de France final, where he will take on Alexander Bublik for the trophy.
The Kazakh had staged a three-set comeback win over Felix Auger Aliassime in the other semifinal at Montpellier. Bublik lost the first set 4-6 but reversed the scorline in the two sets that followed, wrapping up a hard-fought win two hours and 37 minutes.
Holger Rune had posted 100th career win en-route to Borna Coric showdown at Montpellier
Holger Rune had opened his Montpellier (Open Sud de France) campaign with a career milestone, posting a 100th Tour-level win in the second round.
The Dane, who had been given a walkover in the opening round by virtue of being the top seed at this year's tournament, beat Spain’s Pablo Llamas Ruiz 7-5, 6-2 in the second round. Post the win, he expressed hope of continuing to stack up many more milestones.
"It's cool and hopefully the first milestone of many. It means a lot to achieve that," Holger Rune had said.
"It was a battle, especially in the first set with some tight moments," the Dane added, "But I'm just happy to be back here in Montpellier and playing some good tennis."
Rune then beat American Michael Mmoh in a tight two-set encounter in the quarterfinal before running into Borna Coric in the semifinal.
