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Match Details
Fixture: (13) Holger Rune vs (LL) Jozef Kovalik
Date: June 1, 2024
Tournament: French Open, 2024
Round: Third Round (Round of 32)
Venue: Roland Garros Stadium, Paris
Category: Grand Slam
Surface: Clay
Prize: €53,478,000
Where to Watch: USA- Tennis Channel, UK- Sky Sports, Canada- TSN
Holger Rune vs Jozef Kovalik preview
13th seed Holger Rune will take on Jozef Kovalik in the third round of the French Open
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Rune's performances have not been particularly impressive in the build-up to the clay-court Major. His best result on the clay so far this season has been a quarterfinal run at the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he narrowly lost to Jannik Sinner.
Rune faced a couple of tough matches at the start of the 2024 French Open. The first-round victory over Daniel Evans was in straight sets, but Evans ran him close occasionally. Against Flavio Cobolli, the Dane blew away a two-set lead and had to win the match via a tiebreaker in the fifth set.
Jozef Kovalik has mostly played challenger-level events in this season. Since playing at the qualifiers at the Australian Open where he lost to Mattia Belucci, Kovalik has not played in a single ATP tour-level event. However, he entered the French Open as a lucky loser.
Kovalik has secured some amazing wins in the first two rounds at Roland Garros. He defeated Marcos Giron in the first round in four sets. Giron is a top 50 player in the world and was the favorite to win the match. In the second round, Kovalik caused an even bigger upset by defeating 18th seed Karen Khachanov by recovering from a two-set love deficit.
Holger Rune vs Jozef Kovalik head-to-head
The head-to-head between the two currently stands at 0-0 as they haven't locked horns before on the ATP Tour.
Holger Rune vs Jozef Kovalik odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Holger Rune vs Jozef Kovalik prediction
Rune has spent more time on court than he would have liked to in the first few rounds. In the last match against Cobolli, he made more unforced errors (46) than the number of winners he struck (44). His first-serve percentage was also far from impressive at 53%.
Kovalik has been playing inspired tennis. Coming back from a two-set deficit against a two-time French Open quarterfinalist in Khachanov shows tremendous mental resolve. The Slovak managed to win many points on his second serve and came to the net extensively to nullify the baseline prowess of his opponent.
Kovalik has already caused an upset and Rune has yet to hit peak form after playing a long match in the previous round. However, given the form and current ranking, Rune should be able to prevail in this encounter after being given a tought fight.
Pick- Rune to win in four sets
