Jannik Sinner digs deep to beat Holger Rune, reach Australian Open last eight

Defending men’s singles champion Jannik Sinner won a war of attrition over Holger Rune to progress to the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday (20 January).

The world No. 1 came out ahead 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 after a marathon of 3 hours, 13 minutes featuring some punishing tennis, and will take on either Alex Michelsen or home crowd favourite Alex de Minaur in the next phase.

Both Sinner and Rune needed medical timeouts during the lung-buster at Rod Laver Arena before the Italian top seed pounced on his first match point.

It was not immediately clear if Sinner was injured or ill when he needed attention in the third set. The 23-year-old was troubled by a hip injury last year.

Sinner looked wobbly as he went off for treatment but won four of six games after returning to the court.

In the final set, Sinner broke Rune to grab a 2-1 lead and won his fourth break point of the match to go up 5-2. He forced Rune to hit wide on the last point as the two-time Grand Slam champion could finally exhale.

“It was for sure very, very tough,” Sinner said. “It was a strange morning. I didn't even warm up today. I knew I would struggle today.”

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