Cilic Delivers Latest French Open Surprise, Beating Medvedev

The quarterfinal lineup is now set, and there is only one unseeded player remaining: the 19-year-old Holger Rune, who upset Stefanos Tsitsipas, the No. 4 seed, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

After a first week short on surprises in the men’s singles draw, Monday changed the tone, and Rune, of Denmark, will now face another Nordic player: Casper Ruud, a Norwegian seeded eighth.

But though Ruud broke into the top 10 last year, winning five titles, this will be the first Grand Slam quarterfinal for both Ruud and Rune, a matchup which, it must be said, has quite a ring to it.

“To make my first quarterfinal here in Roland Garros means a lot,” said Ruud, whose father and coach, Christian, also played in the French Open. “It’s the first Grand Slam that I visited as a kid. It’s nice to get one of my best results of my career so far here.”

Medvedev could not win a match in his first four appearances at the French Open and made light of the situation before last year’s tournament, saying that his goal was to win one round.

He managed to win four on his way to the quarterfinals then but fell just short of matching that performance this year.

Cilic has equaled his best result at Roland Garros with his run to the final eight and may not be done yet if he can continue to hit his serves and groundstrokes the way he did under the lights.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/30/sports/marin-cilic-daniil-medvedev-french-open.html