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ROME, 17 May (AP) \u2014 Twenty-year-old Danish player Holger Rune recorded his second victory over Novak Djokovic in little more than six months, beating the 22-time Grand Slam champion 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 Wednesday to reach the Italian Open semifinals.<\/p>\n
Rune, who also defeated Djokovic in the Paris Masters final in November, gave the Serb fits with his rapid court coverage. He made his opponent hit extra balls on points that Djokovic thought he had already finished off.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is probably the coldest and wettest tournament I\u2019ve ever played here in Rome,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cIn these kind of conditions, it\u2019s very difficult to get the ball past him. He\u2019s very, very fast, very quick. Great anticipation. Just a very talented, dynamic player, all-around player.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was just better. He played too good for me for most part of the match,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cHe kept his nerves and deserved to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old Djokovic didn\u2019t appear at his best physically early on and called for a trainer after holding for a 2-1 lead in the second set. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear what the issue was but it appeared that Djokovic swallowed a pill that the trainer gave him.<\/p>\n
Djokovic recently returned after three weeks off because of a lingering issue with his surgically repaired right elbow. He\u2019s preparing for the French Open, which starts in 11 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I can always play better,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI always like my chances in Grand Slams against anybody on any surface, best-of-five. Let\u2019s see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rune, meanwhile, is boosting his credentials as a Grand Slam contender after a solid season on clay that included a runner-up finish in the Monte Carlo Masters, a title in Munich, and now a semifinal spot in Rome in his first main draw appearance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery match is a huge challenge for me when I play against Novak. He\u2019s obviously one of the greatest that ever played the game,\u201d Rune said. \u201cI\u2019m a huge fighter on the court and I leave everything when I play my matches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Djokovic stormed out to a 5-2 lead in the second but Rune rallied back, winning a 34-shot rally with a sublime backhand drop-shot winner to set up a key break.<\/p>\n
Rune also called for a trainer late in the second set to have his right leg treated, shortly before the match was suspended because of rain with Rune serving to stay in the set at 4-5, 0-30.<\/p>\n
After a suspension of more than an hour, Djokovic won two straight points to break Rune\u2019s serve and take the second set. But Rune then broke Djokovic\u2019s serve twice early in the third.<\/p>\n
Djokovic committed 35 unforced errors to Rune\u2019s 15, with 22 of those coming on his forehand.<\/p>\n
Djokovic has won the Italian Open six times, including last year, and failed to reach the final only once in eight previous editions \u2014 when he was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the semifinals in 2018.<\/p>\n
Nadal, who holds the record of 10 titles in Rome, is not playing as he remains hampered by a nagging hip injury, leaving his status for Roland Garros in question.<\/p>\n
With Djokovic out of the draw, an 18-year streak of either him or Nadal playing in the Rome final ends.<\/p>\n
Djokovic will also lose the No. 1 ranking to Carlos Alcaraz, another 20-year-old player, next week \u2014 even though Alcaraz was beaten by 135th-ranked Hungarian qualifier Fabian Marozsan in the third round on Monday.<\/p>\n
Rune\u2019s semifinal opponent will be either Casper Ruud or Francisco Cerundolo, who were scheduled to play later.<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s quarterfinals, two-time defending champion Iga Swiatek was up against Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko was facing Paula Badosa.<\/p>\n
Rune, who is known for his fiery behavior, got into a heated exchange with the chair umpire about a disputed call during the second set. When the umpire refused to change the call despite Rune saying that the mark on the clay showed that Djokovic\u2019s shot was out, he lost his cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you get punished when you make mistakes? You don\u2019t. So please respect the player,\u201d Rune said to the umpire, Mohamed Lahyani. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute joke.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Rune\u2019s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, motioned from the stands for his player to calm down, Rune then said to nobody in particular, \u201cIt\u2019s always the umpire who makes me look like the bad guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Early in the third, Djokovic grew frustrated with Lahyani because of the way he was announcing the score between Italian and English, and when the service shot clock started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROME, 17 May (AP) \u2014 Twenty-year-old Danish player Holger Rune recorded his second victory over Novak Djokovic in little more than six months, beating the 22-time Grand Slam champion 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 Wednesday to reach the Italian Open semifinals. Rune, who also defeated Djokovic in the Paris Masters final in November, gave the Serb fits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-216417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216417\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}