Danish 17-year-old qualifier Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune beat Sebastian Baez 6-3 6-2 after 1 hour and 19 minutes to score his first ATP Tour main draw win at the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.
Rune reached three ITF-level Finals and won an ITF 15 k title at the start of the 2021 season. The Dane won the Junior title at Roland Garros in 2019 and is ranked 410 in the ATP Ranking.
“It’s a great feeling winning my ATP match. I was playing very good and was very focused on the court and did not make any bad decisions. I was controlling my game and my attitude. It made me super happy the way I carried the whole match and gave everything until the last point. So I am doing good, I am winning matches and trying to fight for every match. This year I only lost three matches and my goal is make it hard for my opponent. This year I don’t know what to expect what to expect. I am not the favourite for the next match as I am not saying I am winning the whole thing, but if that happens, it’s great. I am just taking it one match at a time”, said Rune.
Rune set up a second round match against Frenchman Benoit Paire.
Seventh seed Federico Coria came back from one set down to beat Gianluca Mager from Italy 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4). Mager missed two match points at 5-4 on Coria’s serve before losing the tie-break of the second set 7-4. The Italian player saved a total of six points in the third set to force the third set to the tie-break. Coria earned a 6-3 lead in the tie-break and sealed the win on his second match point.
Federico Delbonis battled past Jaume Munar 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 after 2 hours and 49 minutes. Delbonis got the break in the third game to take a 2-1 lead. Munar broke back in teh eighth game to draw level to 4-4. Delbonis earned his second break in the ninth game to win the second set 6-4.
Delbonis started the second set with a break in the first game of the second set. Munar broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 4-4. The set came down to the tie-break, where both players traded mini-breaks. Munar got his second mini-break on the 11th point to win the tie-break 7-5. Both players traded breaks three times in the third set. Delbonis sealed the third set with a break in the 10th game.
This year’s Cordoba Open champion Juan Manuel Cerundolo came back from 1-4 down to beat beat Gonzalo Lama 7-5 6-2.
Andrej Martin cruised past Buenos Aires finalist Francisco Cerundolo 6-1 6-2. Chilean qualifier Alejandro Tabilo overcame Josef Kovalik 6-1 0-6 6-4.
