Sinner survives Rune after the net problem pauses the Australian Open match

MELBOURNE, Australia – First came the medical timeouts, one each for Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit at the Australian Open. Then came the unusual sight of a 20-minute delay because the net at Rod Laver Arena detached from the court after being hit by a big Sinner serve.

In the end, Sinner put his physical struggles aside and emerged victorious – as he continues to do, regardless of venue or circumstances – and the defending champion moved into the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park on Monday by eliminating 13th-seeded Rune 6- 3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The no. 1-ranked Sinner would occasionally try to cool off by pressing a cold towel to his face or pouring water down his neck. He was far better down, both after a 10-minute-plus delay in the third set when he went to the locker room for medical attention and after a 20-minute holdup in the fourth when the screw connecting the net to the blue playing surface became distraught.

“I knew in my mind … I was going to fight today,” Sinner said during his court interview, without saying what was wrong. “Me and the doctor, we talked for a bit. It helped me.”

He has won 18 consecutive tour-level matches dating to the end of 2024. Last season, Sinner went 73-6 with eight titles, the first man with that many tournament championships in a single year since Andy Murray in 2016.

That streak included Sinner’s first two Grand Slam trophies, at the Australian Open in January and the US Open in September, the latter shortly after he was cleared of testing positive for an anabolic steroid twice in March. However, his case remains unresolved, with a hearing scheduled for April in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of the ruling.

Rune, a 21-year-old Dane, tried to reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the first time.

Sinner must meet no. 8 Alex De Minaur from Australia or unseeded Alex Michelsen from the USA for a place in the semi-finals. Another Italian joined Sinner in the quarter-finals as 55th-ranked Lorenzo Sonego made it this far at a major tournament for the first time by ending American qualifier Learner Tien 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 . Sonego must now meet no. 21 Ben Shelton from the USA or Gael Monfils from France.

The men’s quarterfinals on Tuesday will be Novak Djokovic against Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev against Tommy Paul.

The first signs of trouble for Sinner came with Rune serving at 3-all in the second set.

After throwing a shot behind the baseline and stumbling slightly, Sinner clutched his upper left leg and looked like he might be in some sort of discomfort, though it wasn’t entirely clear what was going on.

After Rune held there, Sinner slowly walked to the sideline for the ensuing faceoff, breathing heavily in between fights. When play resumed, Rune earned his first break point of the match and Sinner served it with a double fault to make his deficit 5-3.

Rune closed out that set and Sinner sat down on his bench for a moment before walking slowly off the court and towards the dressing room.

It was a humid afternoon and both players used long physical points. After a decisive 37-stroke exchange in the third – claimed by Sinner with a cross-court swinging forehand volley pass winner after bringing Rune forward with a drop shot – each man leaned over, hands on knees, gasping for breath. One of the Sinners’ coaches, Darren Cahill, stood in his box and raised his left fist.

Then, during the change at 3-2 in the third set, Sinner asked the chair umpire to call for a trainer and asked a ball boy to bring him a bottle of something to drink from his team. Sinner’s pulse was checked and then he trudged off with a towel draped around his winch and a bottle in each hand, accompanied by a doctor.

When the action resumed, Rune was the one playing a bit recklessly and without an effective game plan, and he was broken at 5-3 – immediately asking for his own medical check, where his right knee was massaged by a trainer. It might actually have helped Sinner.

“It was definitely very, very tough,” Sinner said. “I knew in my mind he had some very long games before this one, so I tried to stay there mentally.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.