Holger Rune saves three match points to edge Wawrinka in Paris thriller
Holger Rune edged out Stan Wawrinka 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday evening. He’ll face Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 10 seed, in the next round
Dane Holger Rune advanced to the second round of Paris Masters by edging out Swiss Stan Wawrinka 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) at the Accor Arena on Tuesday evening.
Rune had to show his steel to earn the victory, the Dane saved two match points while serving at 4-5, 15-40 in the second set, and he saved another at 5-6, ad-out in the third set before playing a perfect tiebreak to close out his victory in two hours and 30 minutes.
Rune, ranked No 18, will face Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 10 seed, next.
The Dane made his top-20 debut this week, after reaching his first 500-level final in Basel (loss to Auger-Aliassime in the final). The 19-year-old improves to 34-24 on the season and 4-4 at the Masters 1000s.
He will bid to reach the round of 16 at a Masters 1000 for the first time when he faces Hurkacz.
Wawrinka, ranked 153, drops to 8-14 on the season. The Swiss was bidding for his third consecutive top-20 win on Tuesday. Despite the loss he has shown better form in the last month, and has reconnected with longtime coach Magnus Norman, as hopes are high that he can be an impactful player once again in 2023.
Paris Masters 1000, other first-round results (Accor Arena, EUR 5.415.410, most recent results first):
- Denis Shapovalov beat Francisco Cerundolo: 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-4
- Grigor Dimitrov beat Botic van de Zandschulp: 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)
- Tommy Paul beat Roberto Bautista Agut: 6-4, 6-4
- Hubert Hurkacz beat Adrian Mannarino (WC): 7-6 (5), 6-4
- Fabio Fognini (LL) beat Arthur Fils (Q): 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-2
- Pablo Carreno Busta (14) beat Albert Ramos-Vinolas: 6-3, 6-3
- Jack Draper beat Arthur Rinderknech (WC): 6-3, 6-4
- Corentin Moutet (Q) beat Borna Coric: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Daniel Evans beat Brandon Nakashima: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
- Alex De Minaur beat Sebastian Korda: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
- Gilles Simon (WC) beat Andy Murray: 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
- Mikael Ymer (Q) beat Alexander Bublik: 6-1, 6-7 (2), 6-4
- Frances Tiafoe (16) beat Lorenzo Sonego (Q): 6-4, 6-4
- Marc-Andrea Huesler (Q) beat Jannik Sinner (11): 6-2, 6-3
- Maxime Cressy beat Diego Schwartzman: 6-3, 6-3
- Richard Gasquet (WC) beat Alex Molcan: 6-3, 6-1
- Lorenzo Musetti beat Marin Čilić (15): 6-4, 6-4
- Karen Khachanov beat Sebastian Baez: 6-1, 6-1
- Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Quentin Halys (Q): 6-3, 6-4
- Taylor Fritz (9) beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina: 7-5, 6-2
- Cameron Norrie (12) beat Miomir Kecmanovic: 6-2, 6-4
- John Isner beat Oscar Otte (Q): 6-4, 7-6 (3)
- Yoshihito Nishioka beat Aslan Karatsev: 6-3, 6-4