The Dane missed several other chances in subsequent games. He had 0-30 on Zverev’s serve at 2-0, and 40-15 on his own serve trailing 3-0. After 89 minutes played, the match was even at one set apiece.
Rune found his clutch play once more in set three, despite letting an early break slip in a crucial third set. After that trade, the two men held their serves to love in five of the next seven games, until the Dane found himself staring down a 15-40 deficit at 5-5. He, and his forehand, responded: two clean winners from Rune’s right-handed stroke helped him escape danger, and he captured eight of the last nine points through to the end of the set.
And it looked like Rune’s forehand was going to steer him into the quarter-finals for a third straight year as he came from behind not once, but twice, in the fourth set to put himself on the precipice of a win.
He trailed by a break at 2-1 and 5-3, but six of his groundstroke winners for the set (and one of his aces) came in the next three games. He was three points away from sealing his own berth in the final eight before Zverev won 11 of the set’s last 13 points (and six in a row in the tiebreak).
Once in the final set, Zverev had no plans to upend his near-perfect record in Roland-Garros five-setters. After failing to convert three break points in Rune’s first service game of the final set, he broke handily in the Dane’s second and fourth service games to earn his ninth five-set win in 10 played at the tournament.