A long wait for his opening match at the Rolex Shanghai Masters proved to be worth it for Holger Rune.
The Dane delivered a resilient performance to down Matteo Berrettini 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a high-quality encounter on Monday at the ATP Masters 1000. After Rune received a bye in the opening round, his second-round clash with Berrettini was originally scheduled for Saturday. Although persistent rain ultimately kept the players waiting two days longer, they did not disappoint when they finally stepped onto Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena.
Rune withstood 16 aces from Berrettini, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to a comeback victory featuring plenty of cat-and-mouse exchanges. The 12th seed stayed patient on return to notch late breaks of serve in both the second and third sets and claim his maiden Shanghai win at the second attempt.
Coming up clutch 💪@holgerrune2003 outlasts Berrettini 4-6 6-4 6-3 to advance in Shanghai.@SH_RolexMasters | #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/h9g3ZHlBbT
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 7, 2024“I think [the match] was pretty good,” said Rune, who now leads Berrettini 3-1 in the pair's Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “It felt like he didn’t do many things wrong in the first set. I made a few errors, but then he was just on me. He didn’t allow me to make many mistakes. I think the same happened in the second and third sets, just the other way around. Every time he got slightly central or short, I was there to punish his shots.
“It was a good match, honestly. I think the tennis was very high quality. We were hitting a lot of winners, good serves, good movement, so I’m very happy to start my tournament like this.”
[ATP APP]Now 13-7 at Masters 1000 events in 2024, Rune will meet 33rd seed Jiri Lehecka for a spot in the fourth round in Shanghai. The 21-year-old seeks a deep run this week to help kick-start a late charge towards Nitto ATP Finals qualification: Rune is up one spot to 15th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin after defeating Berrettini, and he could rise as high as eighth by lifting the title in China.
“I think I’ve been consistent in many tournaments, but haven’t really gone all the way,” said Rune, whose best result this year was a final run in Brisbane. “It’s just a process. Keep working, keep trying to do the right things. From my side there was a big change from the first set to the last two sets. I was hitting the ball better. I was moving more up to the ball, playing more on my terms, aggressively coming forward.
“I’m happy with the way I started this tournament. I think that’s the way for me to play and I’m going to keep going like this.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]