Holger Rune faced strong opposition from Tomas Martin Etcheverry, but he powered through to reach the 2023 Swiss Indoors semifinals.
The opening set of this match looked like Rune would have serious trouble against Etcheverry, and while that proved true in the end, it wasn't like that in the opening set. Rune held from 0-40 to win the first game of the match on his serve.
Many assumed that it would remain competitive, but it didn't. Pretty quickly, the Dane found a really good rhythm, outplayed his opponent from the baseline, and took the opening set 6-1.
Etcheverry had plenty of issues keeping himself in the rallies against Rune, but he did much better in the second set. He actually broke Rune early to make the match complicated.
The second set was actually a flawless set of tennis by the Argentinian. He finished with 10 winners and didn't have any unforced errors, which is pretty great. Rune tried his best, but he never found a way to unsettle his opponent, who was in the zone.
A constant in the match was Etcheverry hitting his first serve at a high percentage, which was crucial in keeping Rune, who once again appeared on the court without a hat, away from aggressive returns. The third set was actually his weakest in that regard, and Rune had some break points but couldn't convert them.
From 5-5 in the final set, both players saved break points at that point but looked also very comfortable on their serve. Rune had a huge hold at 6-5 while Etcheverry sent the match into the tie-break. It was a great one, as Rune played slightly better and wasted a match point on serve.
He did ultimately win, but he was incredibly lucky to do so. The ball hit the tip of the net to give him a 7-6 lead and then Etcheverry committed a double fault to lose the match. The final score was 6-1 3-6 7-6(6).
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