Defending champion Holger Rune is out of the Stockholm Open after Miomir Kecmanovic beat him in two sets.
Holger Rune has struggled tremendously in the past few weeks losing multiple matches without any indication of his bad streak disappearing. The Dane is 1-10 in his last 11 matches with his only win coming over Felix Auger-Aliassime in Beijing.
All of the other matches have been terrible for him, and it continued today in Stockholm. Despite being the defending champion and desperately needing both wins for his confidence and a chance to play in Turin, Rune produced another showing below his level.
It wasn't the beatdown he suffered from Brandon Nakashima, but it wasn't a very good showing either. The opening set was very close, ending up in a tiebreak, which isn't a huge surprise.
Even so, Rune was on the back foot for much of it, having to save multiple break points. He didn't really play all that bad posting 4 aces and 15 winners in that opening set, but still, when he needed to step up, he couldn't as Kecmanovic escaped 7-2.
The second set wasn't really close as the Dane got more frustrated and kind of fell apart, similar to what happened against Nakashima in Beijing. The final score was 7-6(2) 6-2 for Kecmanovic, who played a really balanced match, opting for a more conservative approach than Rune.
He had fewer errors and fewer mistakes, which worked out for him as he played the crucial rallies better. Rune played better than last week after proclaiming a great week of practice leading up to this event, but it was still not enough as his opponent was better.
There are a lot of things to think about for Rune ahead of Basel next week and the Paris Masters, where he also defends the trophy. The ATP Finals are also looking further and further away.
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