Holger Rune had a really rocky start to his 2024 Asian Swing, but he played much better in his second match, beating Alejandro Tabilo in three sets at the Japan Open in Tokyo.
Rune's first match in this year's Asian Swing came in Hangzhou, where he faced experienced veteran Yasutaka Uchiyama from Japan. It wasn't the best match as the Danish player was beaten in two sets.
It was a continuation of Rune's bad form, as he lost his third consecutive match. At times, he found a good level and played well, but more generally, he struggled to stay consistent.
That didn't happen at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo because Rune played a solid match to beat Tabilo. He started the match well, serving on a decent level, which made things a lot easier.
He was also a bit fortunate that Tabilo couldn't keep up at the start of the match. He's generally been decent this year but played very inconsistently at the start of this first-round match.
It might have something to do with his late arrival from Europe. He was competing at the Laver Cup fairly recently, which prevented him from coming to Tokyo at the same time as most of the other players.
He simply didn't look comfortable at all in the opening set, which he concluded with 16 unforced errors in only 8 games of play. That was a terrible mark, especially since he also had only 4 winners.
Rune was aggressive in the first set, totaling 14 unforced errors himself, but at least he had ten winners. The Danish player also served on a fairly decent level, which made things a lot more tense for Tabilo, who didn't serve well at all.
The second set started much better for the Chilean, who was able to hold his serve without too many problems in the first few games. He had much more control over his shots, totaling more winners in the first three games of the second set than in the whole first set.
Despite playing much better and pushing Rune a bit, Tabilo wasn't able to create a breakthrough. He had a break chance in the sixth game but didn't convert it; however, he was still able to hold his serve without too many problems.
The match continued to be quite competitive as both players were able to hold the serve without too many problems. For Tabilo, the game-changer was being able to hold his serve without getting broken or even allowing a single break chance to Rune.
The young Dane stabilized a bit towards the end of the second set but then ran into issues down 5-6, allowing Tabilo set points. He saved two of them but couldn't save the third, allowing the Chilean to make it 1-1.
Both players played sharply in the final set, as Rune was amazing and Tabilo held on as well. The Chilean had to save a break point in the fifth game, which he did, so he kept his hopes high.
Still, Rune got another break chance at 4-4, and this time around, he broke, making it 5-4 and then winning the third set 6-4 to win the match 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, snapping his three-match losing streak and reaching the second round of the 2024 Japan Open in Tokyo.