Holger Rune’s Montpellier campaign came to a premature end after he was forced to retire from his semifinal contest against Borna Coric on Saturday (February 3).
The Croat was leading by a set (6-3, 4-1*) when Rune pulled the plug on the match after struggling with his right arm for a while. As he approached the net to shake hands with Coric, disappointed fans made their feelings heard with loud booing.
Tennis TV later shared a video of the closing stages, wherein the crowd could be heard voicing their disappointment.
Hampered by the issue on his right arm, Rune had struggled to hold serve throughout the contest. He was putting only about half his first serves in and winning just about 50% of the points behind the shot — which is otherwise a big weapon in his game.
Coric, meanwhile, was relentless in his attack. The Croat created as many as 10 breakpoint opportunities in the truncated contest, converting four of them. With this win, he moved through to the Open Sud de France final, where he will take on Alexander Bublik for the trophy.
The Kazakh had staged a three-set comeback win over Felix Auger Aliassime in the other semifinal at Montpellier. Bublik lost the first set 4-6 but reversed the scorline in the two sets that followed, wrapping up a hard-fought win two hours and 37 minutes.
Final bound 🫡@borna_coric is into the Montpellier final after Rune retires 6-3 4-1 down 😔#OSDF24 pic.twitter.com/hKluGKn5q1
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 3, 2024