Italian Open: Holger Rune overcomes Alexi Popyrin in three sets in Rome, sets up Novak Djokovic meeting

Holger Rune has progressed to the quarter-finals of the Italian Open, beating Australia's Alexei Popyrin 6-4 5-7 6-4 in just over three hours. The No. 7 seed produced a confident display against qualifier Popyrin to set up a meeting with Novak Djokovic in the next round.

Ad Earlier in the day, Djokovic beat Great Britain's Cameron Norrie in a spicy clash to make the quarter-finals for the 17th year in a row. ATP RomeDjokovic comes through spicy Norrie clash to make Rome quarter-finalsAN HOUR AGO Rune broke early in the first set to go 3-1 ahead, and despite facing two break points at 3-2, he saved those and managed to hold firm to take the advantage in the encounter. The second set was nip and tuck until the business end when Popyrin seized the initiative, breaking the Rune serve by converting a set point.

Rune appeared to be having issues with his vision when he trailed 4-6 7-5 2-1 and called on a medical trainer. Djokovic comes through spicy Norrie clash to make Rome quarter-finals Alcaraz dumped out by world No. 135 Marozsan in seismic upset But he looked unaffected when he returned to court and broke the Popyrin serve to move into a 3-2 lead in the decider after a wild forehand from the world No.

77. Momentum was firmly with Rune as Popyrin expressed his displeasure at the umpire about the 25-second rule in between points as he was going over the time limit for using his towel. Popyrin continued to make unforced errors yet Rune could not capitalise on his opponent's serve.

Rune squandered four match points on Popyrin's serve before finishing the contest in the very next game with a love hold. Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to the last 16 after beating Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 7-6(3) in two hours and six minutes. The world