Holger Rune overcame stern resistance from former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini to move into the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Monday.
The Danish world No.14 battled back from a set down to beat Berrettini 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, after almost two hours of play. Rune produced a total of 30 winners against 19 unforced errors and dropped serve only once. It is the first time he had won a match in Shanghai, which until this week was the only Masters event he hadn’t recorded a victory at. He now leads Berrettini 3-1 in their head-to-head.
“I think it was pretty good,” Rune said of his latest win.
“It felt like he (Berrettini) didn’t do many things wrong in the first set. I made like a few errors, but then he was just on me.
“The same thing happened in the second and third, just the other way around.
“Every time he got slightly central or short, I was there to punish his shots. But it was it was a good match. It was I think the tennis was very high quality.
“We were hitting a lot of winners, good serves, good movements. So I’m very happy to start my tournament like this.”
Rune has a win-loss record of 13-7 at Masters events so far this season. He reached the semi-finals in Cincinnati, as well as the quarter-finals at both Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo. The only Masters event he has won was in Paris almost two years ago.
Coming into Shanghai, Rune experienced an encouraging run at the Japan Open where he reached the last four before losing to Arthur Fils, who went on to win the title. Despite the short turnaround between events, he has found adapting to the conditions relatively straightforward.
“The balls (in Shanghai) are not that hard to play with, to be honest. It’s just pretty heavy.” He explained.
“You got to put a little bit more effort but I’m a strong guy, so I can do it.
“I’m not a player that’s lacking power, I would tell myself.
“That’s the life of tennis, it’s full of adjustments. It would be nicer to have the same ball every week. But that’s how it is. It’s not going to change for tomorrow.
The 21-year-old is aiming to win his first title of any sort this year. He last contested a Tour final in January at the Brisbane International where he was beaten by Grigor Dimitrov.
“I think like I’ve been consistent in many tournaments but haven’t really gone all the way,” Rune reflected.
“It’s just a process. Keep working and trying to do the right things.”
In Shanghai, Rune’s next match will be against Jiri Lehecka.
