The clay season is still complicated for Holger Rune. As Roland-Garros approaches (May 26 – June 9), the young Dane (21 years old) lost this Monday evening against Sebastian Baez, in the third round of the Masters 1000 in Rome, after having won the first set (2-6, 6-2, 6-3).
The Argentinian, for his part, has just won the biggest victory of his career in Masters 1000 to reach his first round of 16, at 23 years old. It is also his first victory over a top 20 in 2024. He will face Hubert Hurkacz in the next round.
Rune had nevertheless pocketed the first round, appearing dominant in all areas of the game. Aggressive (9 winning shots in the first set alone) and regularly came to the net to finish the rallies (6/9 at the net), the Dane had started the meeting with a double break to quickly lead 4-0. But he was not able to maintain the same level of play in the two sets that followed, regularly put in danger on his put in play and only managing to obtain a single break point, unconverted .
Repeated early eliminations
Finalist last year at the Italian Open, Rune therefore left the tournament much earlier this year, having already been prematurely eliminated from the Masters 1000 in Madrid (third round) and Monte-Carlo (quarter-finals), on earth. All surfaces combined, he also experienced early setbacks at the Australian Open (second round, against Arthur Cazaux) or in Miami (second round, beaten from the start). Proof of the Dane’s difficulties this season: we have to go back to the Rome tournament in 2023 to see him reach the last four of a Masters 1000.
These repeated setbacks continue to cause him to fall in the ATP rankings, he who had reached his maximum (4th) last August before ending the year 2023 in 8th place. For this tournament, he was in 12th place but could still lose one or two places by Roland-Garros. Which could lead him to meet big names on the circuit in the round of 16 of the French Open, such as Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev.
