After a titanic battle, Rune escapes to Madrid!

Elio Valotto

le 27/04/2024 à 11h32

1 min to read

Bucarest Griekspoor Madrid Marrakech Navone Rio de Janeiro Rune

Monumental! This is, for the moment, the match of this 2024 edition of the Madrid Masters 1000. On an overexcited Arantxa Sanchez court, the Dane finally snatched his ticket for the third round at the end of the night (5-7, 7-6, 6-4 in 2h57). Against Mariano Navone, the world number 12 came very close to the exit.

Having been lacking in confidence for several weeks, this victory changed everything. Faced with an opponent who has been on a roll in recent weeks (14 wins in 17 matches, 2 finals and 1 semi-final), Rune was dominated for a long time.

Navone, riding on his current confidence, was heading straight for a great feat. Winning the first act with great authority (7-5), the Argentine even served for the match (7-5, 6-5).

Unfortunately, he cracked at the worst possible moment (committing two double faults at the moment of conclusion). Seizing the opportunity, Holger Rune won the second set (7-6) before taking the lead (5-1). It was then that Navone began to drop his shots again. Overjoyed, the Argentine saved 2 match points to come back to within a set of Rune (5-4).
In a last game of monumental skill, Rune finally clinched an extremely important victory. As evidenced by her cry of relief, Rune gave herself a fright. Very scared!

In the third round, the 20-year-old will face Tallon Griekspoor (25th in the world). A much more accessible opponent, on paper.