By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, April 28, 2022
World No. 70 Holger Rune stunned top-seeded Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-2 scoring his first career Top 10 win to reach the Munich quarterfinals.
Photo credit: BMW Open by American Express Facebook
Casper Ruud rallied and Oscar Otte surprised to move on in Munich.
The 62nd-ranked Otte was nearly untouchable on first serve stopping third-seeded Reilly Opelka 7-6(4), 6-2 to reach his second straight quarterfinal at the BMW Open.
More: Rune Rolls Zverev
Otte rode an imposing first serve to his first career Top-20 win.
The 28-year-old German won 32 of 35 points played on his first serve in a one hour, 26-minute victory.
A day after German No. 1 Alexander Zverev apologized to fans following a lackluster straight-sets loss to 18-year-old Holger Rune, Otte controlled the center of the court on key exchanges to reach the last eight today.
The German No. 2 evened his 2022 record at 8-8. Otte will meet Chilean lucky loser Alejandro Tabilo for a semifinal spot.
World No. 91 Tabilo held a 6-2, 2-6, 4-1 lead over Hugo Gaston when the 72nd-ranked Frenchman retired after some wild rallied like this one.
World No. 91 Tabil, the Cordoba runner-up, is through to his third quarterfinal of the season.
Earlier, second-seeded Casper Ruud rallied past 2021 Belgrade finalist Alex Molcan 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 into his fourth quarterfinal of 2022.
“It was a very tough test. I didn’t get off to a great start,” Ruud said. “But I was able to fight back and find my rhythm and luckily I was able to do it a little bit towards the end of the first set, which I still lost, but it gave me some confidence for the second set.
“I started the second set well, I broke him right away. The third set was really close and even but I was able to get the break. It gives me confidence I am able to win matches like these.”
Miami Open finalist Ruud aims to avenge his 2021 US Open loss to Botic van de Zandschulp for a spot in the semifinals.
No. 8-seeded van de Zandschulp defeated qualifer Egor Gerasimov 6-2, 6-3.
“It was a very tough test. I didn’t get off to a great start,” Ruud said. “But I was able to fight back and find my rhythm and luckily I was able to do it a little bit towards the end of the first set, which I still lost, but it gave me some confidence for the second set.
“I started the second set well, I broke him right away. The third set was really close and even but I was able to get the break. It gives me confidence I am able to win matches like these.”