(Rome) World No.1 Novak Djokovic, defending champion, was eliminated 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 by young Dane Holger Rune, world No.7, in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Rome Wednesday, ten days from Roland-Garros (May 28-June 11).

Djokovic, who will lose the place of world No.1 in favor of Carlos Alcaraz on Monday, will thus present himself in Paris with an unremarkable record of five victories for three defeats in three tournaments on clay this season. He was successively stopped in the round of 16 in Monte-Carlo, then in the quarter-finals in Banja Luka (Bosnia) and Rome.

At 20, Rune obtained his second victory in a row against the Serb, after that in the final of the Masters 1000 in Paris in November. For a place in the final, he will face the world No.4 Casper Ruud or the Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo (31e), opposites in the evening.

Transparent in the first set, in which he multiplied the unforced errors and called the doctor, Djokovic regained his senses a little in the second, and after a long interruption due to the rain, at 5-4, 0-30 in his favor, equalized at one inning everywhere as soon as the recovery.

But the Dane took control of the game with authority under a persistent drizzle, with a double break to escape 4-0, then 5-1. Serving to win the match, he dismissed a break ball before concluding after 2 h 18 min of play.

Djokovic, titled six times in Rome, had not lost at the quarter-final stage in the Italian capital for ten years.