Tennis is a funny sport. Three years ago, as the sport was preparing to lose players such as Rafael Nadal to retirement, young Carlos Alcaraz was ascending to take the spot of the past greats. If many had guessed who might become the Spaniard's long-time rival, one might have guessed Holger Rune.
Instead, as we all know, Alcaraz's true rival became Jannik Sinner. Still, a third would be a nice addition, and possibly Rune is still finding himself. He appears to be inching closer to the form and mentality that could make him a consistent threat on the ATP tour.
Meanwhile, his fourth-round opponent at the Cincinnati Open, Frances Tiafoe, might not have the high-end game Rune potentially is capable of, but Tiafoe works extremely hard and is one of the nicest people on tour. He also certainly isn't without skill.
Frances Tiafoe retires against Holger Rune in fourth round of the Cincinnati Open
Which meant the fourth-round match should have been exciting. At the very beginning, however, it appeared that Tiafoe might run away with the match. He got an early break of Rune and led 3-0. The Dane clawed back to even the first set, however, and captured all the momentum.
Rune was able to get another break of Tiafoe at 4-all, and after the game, the American needed a medic to come out to help with what appeared to be some back pain Tiafoe was having. The treatment didn't help right away, however. Rune was able to hold relatively easily to take the first set 6-4.
After holding serve to open the second set, Tiafoe was then broken by Rune in his next service game. Trailing 1-3 in the second set, Tiafoe chose to retire due to his injury. The move makes sense as if he wants to have any chance of playing at the US Open at the end of the month, not risking aggravating the injury further is the smart move.
With the loss, Frances Tiafoe will fall out of the top 15 when the new ATP rankings are released after the Cincinnati Open. Last year in Cincy, the American reached the final.
Holger Rune will next play Taylor Fritz or Terence Atmane in the quarterfinals.