Rune wins ninth match in a row to set up Auger-Aliassime clash in Basel and break into top 20
Playing in his first ATP 500 semi-final, Holger Rune saves four set points in the second set to beat Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6 (1), 7-6 (6)
Holger Rune at the 2022 Swiss Indoors in Basel
Image Credit: AI/ Reuters/ Panoramic
Danish teen Holger Rune reached his third consecutive final on the ATP Tour, upsetting Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the championship match at the Swiss Indoors on Saturday.
Rune overcame a 6-2 deficit in the second set tiebreak and won six points in a row to beat Bautista Agut 7-6 (1), 7-6 (6) in just a little over two hours.
Having won the title in Stockholm last week, Rune has now won nine matches in a row. He also reached the final in Sofia earlier this month and has now won 13 of his last 14 matches
Ahead of his win on Saturday, the 19-year-old Dane had defeated Australian Alex De Minaur, the No 7 seed (6-2, 7-5), French qualifier Ugo Humbert (6-4, 6-2) and French qualifier Arthur Rinderknech (7-6, 6-2) in the tournament.
With the win, Rune is also assured of making his Top 20 debut for the first time in the rankings next week. The Dane is currently at No 18 in the Live Rankings and could rise as high as No 16 if he wins the title.
Rune and Auger-Aliassime to clash for the first time on Sunday
If he hopes to make it 10 in a row on Sunday, he will need to stop the player with the current longest winning streak on the tour – Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The third seeded Canadian upset top seed and world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2 in the first semi-final of the day. That was Auger-Aliassime’s 12th win in a row after capturing titles in Florence and Antwerp.
Sunday’s final will be the first career meeting for the two players. Both players have not been broken during their run to the final.
While Auger-Aliassime is 3-9 in ATP finals (after losing his first eight), Rune is 2-1 on the same stat with all three of his earlier finals also coming in 2022.
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