Jannik Sinner wins stop-start Australian Open match with Holger Rune after illness, net problems

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MELBOURNE, Australia – Jannik Sinner is through to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after a dramatic fourth-round win over Holger Rune. World no. 1 Sinner won in four sets, 6-3. 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, but this did not tell the story of a contest defined by illness. sweltering temperatures in Melbourne and a bizarre incident with the network.

Sinner won a routine first set as Rune sprayed her groundstrokes, making 14 unforced errors between her forehand and backhand to Sinner’s seven.

Then, midway through the second set, the defending Australian Open champion shrank when he ran down a ball from the Danish no. 13-seed on his backhand. Sinner served at 3-4 while in discomfort, double-faulting to concede the break before Rune served out the set. His movement had deteriorated throughout and Sinner appeared to indicate to his box that he was struggling with his movement on his left side. He said after the game that the limp was related to feeling unwell, rather than any injury.


Jannik Sinner was in visible discomfort for large parts of his match against Holger Rune. (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

In his on-court interview with Jim Courier, Sinner said he hadn’t warmed up in the morning and knew the match would be physically tough. He did not elaborate on the reason for his impaired movement.

In the Italian part of his press conference, Sinner said he had slept normally but had woken up feeling unwell. He described his pre-match ritual before facing Rune as something he had never done before, not warming up and changing his usual routines to play the match.

Sinner appeared in minor discomfort when he returned for the third set, but he looked strained between some points and struggled to get out of his backhand review. At 30-40, 1-1, Sinner prevailed in a lung-busting rally that was one of the highlights of the tournament so far, leveling a service game that lasted more than 10 minutes.

He continued to fight physically, looking to get end points as quickly as possible when returning serve.

“When you’re not where you want to be health-wise, it’s hard,” he said in his postgame press conference.

Sinner has proven physically hampered in matches in the past – especially between points – and has won them. On Monday, his first serve percentage plummeted from 63 percent to 38 percent between sets two and three, inviting pressure from Rune on top of his physical limitations.

At 2-2, Sinner fell from 40-0 to 40-40, helped by two blitzed second-serve returns from Rune and a double fault. Another double fault gave Rune a break point, but two strong serves and a bad error from Rune allowed Sinner to move up to 3-2.

Sinner then left the court for treatment after being checked by courtside physios with a monitor attached to his finger. Sinner was visibly shaken on the side of the pitch during a transition.

He returned after 11 minutes and 20 seconds. The set remained close until 3-4 on Rune’s serve, when he abandoned the patience and rally tolerance that had given him the opportunity to at least earn a tiebreak. Apparently hampered by a problem with his right knee, the Dane played a loose game to give Sinner the third set. He immediately received medical treatment before Sinner served out.

“It’s fair that he was checked, but it took a little longer than I expected,” Rune said.

“I had good momentum at this moment, so it wasn’t the worst timing on his part. They checked him on the pitch and the referee said he needed further checks, more checks and then he came back and shot, so I don’t know what they did.”


Holger Rune showed great mental strength to put pressure on a struggling Sinder, but could not sustain it. (Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images)

The drama was not over. At 0-1 in the fourth set, a Sinner first serve hit the net and broke the bolt connecting it to the court. Play was interrupted for over 20 minutes while a new hole was drilled to the net housing, giving Sinner and Rune more chances to rally.

Sinner recovered better after the extended break and took control of the second set 6-2. He will face Alex Michelsen or Alex De Minaur in the quarter-finals.

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‘I was lucky today’: Broken net helps Jannik Sinner during the Holger Rune match

“Even the best players in the world sometimes need a lucky break”

Analysis from tennis writer Charlie Eccleshare

Even the best players in the world sometimes need a lucky break.

Sinner got one today, helped in a big way by the 21-minute stoppage early in the fourth set due to the broken net.

The momentum had already shifted Sinner’s way when his serve knocked the bolt that connects the net to the court out of the ground, but he was not in a good way as he took an 11-minute medical assessment and then timeout at 3-2 in the third set. From the moment the players left the field, it felt like a reprieve for Sinner, an opportunity to reset and refuel.

“I was lucky today,” he said in his post-match press conference.

So it turned out. He won the fourth set quite comfortably, and in the closing stages it was Rune who struggled physically.

Sinner’s serve that broke the net was a freak incident in an already strange match played in the scorching heat of the day. Sinner, who showed much more emotion in the closing stages and at the end of the match than usual, knew how easily it could have gone the other way. This could prove to be a defining moment in his title defence, especially with the top seeds in his half crashing out early.

For Rune, this is the best tennis he has shown since arguably the 2023 season, certainly at a Grand Slam and certainly against a top player. Men’s tennis is a more exciting place with him a factor and hopefully he can build on this rather than be consumed by what could have been had the net remained intact.

(Top photo: Hannah Peters/Getty Images)