US Open 2025: Holger Rune Suffers Shock Second Round Exit After Losing Marathon Match to Jan-Lennard Struff

Arguably one of the biggest upsets of the US Open 2025 tennis Grand Slam tournament has taken place on Thursday (August 28), as Holger Rune suffered a surprising five-set defeat to Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in a match that lasted long and saw both men get the opportunity to make it to the third round. 

Rune was beaten 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 by the unseeded Struff, with the veteran German star putting in a performance for the ages. 

It was a slightly better showing at Flusing Meadows in 2025 than it was in 2024 for the Dane, but few expected Rune to be out of the tournament this early. 

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Struff Triumphs in Marathon Game

The first indication that fans were in for a long night of action in this game came from the fact that the first set needed to be decided via a tie-break. 

It was one that Struff won, but the back and forth nature of the match meant it was not a guarantee of anything to come and that is how it proved in the second set. 

Rune dominated and won it 6-2, but then suffered a similar loss in the third set as he could only pick up 3 games, losing the set 6-3. 

The Dane was staring at the prospect of elimination and pulled out a close 6-4 win in the fourth set, meaning it was all to play for. 

The match nearly saw another tie-break but it was Struff who managed to win the final set 7-5. 

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Rune's Underwhelming Grand Slams Run Continues

It also continued Rune's habit of playing poorly in Grand Slam tournaments - his best showing across Slams in his career has been making the quarterfinals at the French Open and Wimbledon. 

Despite a career-high ranking of number 4, he has never come close to competing for Slam titles and has only won 5 career titles - of which only one is a Masters event with 3 being ATP 250 events and one being an ATP 500 event.

At 22, he still has time to make a splash but he will need a better 2026 season to make that happen.