Holger Rune produced a quickfire start and a quickfire finish Saturday to reach the championship match at the Brisbane International presented by Evie.
The top-seeded Dane defeated Roman Safiullin 6-4, 7-6(0) to book a final spot on event debut at the hard-court ATP 250. Rune notched the only break of the opening set in the first game inside Pat Rafter Arena and then won the final eight points of the match to clinch his semi-final triumph.
“It was a good match,” said Rune. “I started very well, broke him in the first game of the match to immediately put that pressure on him and then second set I got the early break again. He broke me back and it was a bit of tighter set but I managed to stay with some good tennis in the tie-break when it mattered.”
Great Dane 🇩🇰@holgerrune2003 is into his 9th tour-level final, defeating Roman Safiullin in Brisbane.@BrisbaneTennis | #BrisbaneTennis pic.twitter.com/TqJEDibfsj
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 6, 2024
Rune targeted Safiullin’s second serve to great effect as he charged to his ninth ATP Tour final. According to Infosys ATP Stats, the 20-year-old Dane won 69 per cent (21/31) of second-serve return points in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with the World No. 26 Safiullin.
Rune’s championship-match opponent will be second seed and 2017 Brisbane champion Grigor Dimitrov. Rune is determined to stay focused as he chases his fifth ATP Tour crown and his first on an outdoor hard court.
“A lot of food, massage, recovery,” said Rune, when asked how he would be preparing for the final. “Hopefully I’m going to watch a little bit of the match tonight and just get ready mentally and physically for tomorrow. Get a good warm-up tomorrow and then just go for it. It’s a final, to get it handed [to you], you have to earn it yourself.”
Dimitrov booked his final berth by defeating home favourite Jordan Thompson, who ended Rafael Nadal’s comeback tournament in the quarter-finals.
A single break of serve in each set was enough for Dimitrov to seal a 6-3, 7-5 triumph against Thompson. The Bulgarian was clutch at key moments, saving all six break points he faced on the way to a one-hour, 50-minute win.
The No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Dimitrov is attempting to win his first tour-level title since the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. The 32-year-old holds the most match wins in Brisbane tournament history, having racked up a 22-6 record across seven appearances at the ATP 250 event.
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