Rune's stature keeps growing as he downs Dimitrov to reach Wimbledon quarters

LONDON: Fearless Dane Holger Rune's stature in world tennis continued to grow on Monday (Jul 10) as he stayed calm and collected in the face of adversity to ride out a 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4) 6-3 fourth round win over perennial underachiever Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon.

The Danish sixth seed missed out on converting any of the six break points he earned in the opening set, and then found himself a set and 4-2 down after surrendering his own serve with two successive double faults.

Through all that trouble and strife, he never lost belief and the 20-year-old came storming back with some phenomenal shot making as he became the first Dane in 65 years to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

It was little wonder he was left screaming into the skies and thumping his chest after the near 3-1/2 hour battle ended when Dimitrov's backhand floated into the tramlines on Rune's first match point.

"It was a crazy match," summed up a hugely relieved Rune. "Grigor pushed me to the limit."

While Rune can look forward to a battle of the 20-year-olds against world number one Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals, for Dimitrov Monday proved to be another huge let down.

Once tipped as a future Grand Slam champion, the 32-year-old has not even made it into the final of any of the four majors. As he clocked up his 51st Grand Slam appearance at Wimbledon, he knew that only three semi-final showings made for a poor return.

But if he harboured hopes that this might be the week when he will finally go all the way, Rune handed him a brutal reality check.

For a set and half Dimitrov looked like he would back up his win over American 10th seed Frances Tiafoe by knocking out another Top 10 contender.

Such was his determination to win the points that mattered, he kept