Rune complained about the heat during an on-court medical timeout earlier in the week, sarcastically asking, “You want a player do die on the court?”
“We can handle a certain amount of heat because, you know, we are fit, we’re strong, we’re mentally strong as well, but there’s always a limit,” he elaborated in post-match press. “I think it’s also important to take care of your health. We need to survive. I think some kind of rule, you know, not that we should stop if it’s just more than this, but like the Grand Slam, you know, they have a feeling on when it’s a little bit too much, and we wait a little bit to see if it drops.”
Rune ultimately navigated the conditions—and Mpetshi Perricard’s notoriously big serve—to reach a third Masters 1000 quarterfinal this season.
“Today was a great level match again,” said the tenth-seeded Dane.”A little different match because there was not a lot of rhythm. In a way, it was more about serve and return and first shot.“Next match will bring a different challenge,” he added of his next opponent, Monegasque qualifier Valentin Vacherot.
Vacherot has defeated three straight seeds—one due to a retirement from No. 20 seed Tomas Machac—to reach his first Masters quarterfinal, where he will take on Rune for the first time.
