Holger Rune made a valiant effort but was ultimately beaten in three sets by a very solid Novak Djokovic, who officially secured the year-end No. 1 rank on the ATP Tour.
This was a highly anticipated match, and a difficult start for both players at the 2023 ATP Finals. Djokovic was able to get it done, but once again, we saw Rune gave him quite a few problems. That's hardly a surprise because the Dane generally pushed the 24-time Grand Slam champion in all of their matches.
This one opened pretty well for both players as they won their first two service games easily, but then Rune jumped out to a 3-2 lead. Djokovic would break back in the next game, but the 20-year-old was able to hold his nerves after that.
He didn't fall apart after that but kept pushing after that and got himself to the tie-break. He took a minibreak lead of 1-0 but then played a bit too loose and not focused enough, which Djokovic used to take the opening set 7-4.
Both were quite dominant on serve, but Djokovic chose his spots better. He played the crucial rallies better, winning him the set. Despite that, Rune kept pushing and actually took an early break in the second set. It was 2-0 for the Dane, but Djokovic still broke back not long after that, making it 2-2.
From there, both players kept winning their games. Some were closer than others, but neither faced too many problems. In the tiebreak, Djokovic made some incredible mistakes, which you don't see often from him. The end result was 7-1 for Rune.
A bang to finish the 2nd set and a bang to open as he broke Rune immediately for the 2-0 lead. He then lost his serve to make it 2-1, stomped two racquets in half, and got a code violation for it. As the match went on, Rune started fading a little bit physically.
Djokovic used that to break his serve and cruised towards the finish line. The final score was 7-6(4) 6-7(1) 6-3. Check out the match stats below.
Novak Djokovic vs Holger Rune Match Stats:
| Novak Djokovic | Holger Rune | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Aces | 18 |
| 4 | Double Faults | 7 |
| 69% | First Serve % | 61% |
| 74% | Points Won After First Serve % | 74% |
| 41% | Points Won After Second Serve % | 42% |
| 4/8 | Break Point Conversion | 3/6 |
| 39 | Winners | 48 |
| 9 | Unforced Errors | 13 |
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