BARCELONA:

Holger Rune ended Casper Ruud’s title defence in Barcelona with a 6-4, 6-2 win over the defending champion in the quarter-finals on Friday.

World number 13 Rune broke Ruud twice in each set as he beat the 10th-ranked Norwegian for only the second time in eight attempts.

The Dane will face Karen Khachanov in the semi-finals after the Russian overcame Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-4, 7-5.

Top seed Carlos Alcaraz continues his quest for a third Barcelona title in four years against Australia’s Alex de Minaur later on Friday. Stefanos Tsitsipas, a four-time runner-up at the tournament, plays Frenchman Arthur Fils in the last eight.

Shelton through to final four in Munich

World number 15 Ben Shelton is through to the semi-finals of the Munich ATP event after a straight-sets win over Italian Luciano Darderi on Friday.

Shelton won 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes, setting up a meeting with Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo, ranked 22nd in the world, in the final four.

It is the second time the 22-year-old has reached the final four this year, after his run to the semis at the Australian Open in January, where he lost in straight sets to eventual winner Jannik Sinner. After the win, Shelton, the number two seed in Munich, found his father Bryan in the crowd and said into the microphone “We’re back, big dog”.

“I feel pretty good moving around, sliding, getting into drop shots, defending, playing offensively. I was kind of like a deer on ice a couple of years ago, but I’ve evolved for sure,” he added.

“I’m not the player I want to be yet but I’m working towards it for sure.”

Cerundolo also came through in straight sets on the Munich clay, winning 6-2, 6-4 in an hour and 15 minutes. Later on Friday, German world number three Alexander Zverev continues his bid to return to the semis for the first time since winning back-to-back titles in Munich in 2017 and 2018, when he takes on the Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor.