Holger Rune added another win at the 2023 Swiss Indoors in Basel to his tally as the Danish player won back-to-back matches for the first time since July.
The last time Rune won two matches in a row was at Wimbledon in July. Fast forward to now, at the end of October, Rune finally did it again. After avoiding disaster against Miomir Kecmanovic in the previous round, the Danish ATP number one added another win against Sebastian Baez.
Much like the first one, this one, too, came pretty hard. Baez is not known as a great hard court player, even less an indoor hard court player, but he produced a really solid effort against Rune.
The first set ended only in a tie-break, which isn't shocking in itself. It's actually pretty common on these types of court, but Rune was expected to play a very strong match, especially after the recent appointment of Boris Becker.
Despite winning, he's not yet playing that great. The opening set saw him assume the more aggressive role, which was expected. He had quite a few winners but still faced a break point.
Baez actually didn't face any break points in the opening set, which makes losing the set even more heartbreaking. Rune's shotmaking proved crucial in the tiebreak, though, as he bested Baez easily 7-2.
Boosted by that opening set, the Dane took control of the match and jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. He was simply outplaying Baez from the baseline, which was largely expected before the match started. He finished it off comfortably to book the quarter-final, a much-needed result in his quest for the ATP Finals.
The final score was 7-6(2), 6-1 behind 7 aces and 22 winners. It's a really strong showing from Rune, his best in recent months. It's clear that his form is turning for the better which comes at the perfect time to finish the season strongly.
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