Rune digs deep to sink Safiullin in Rotterdam

Grinding out big wins indoors has been a major feature of Holger Rune’s young career. The 20-year-old Dane was at it again Wednesday at the ABN AMRO Open, where he held off the big-hitting Roman Safiullin to reach the second round.

Rune prevailed 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 at the ATP 500 in Rotterdam, where the pivotal moments of the third seed’s opening victory came early in the deciding set. Serving at 1-1, Rune saved five break points to hold from 0/40 before racing through the next four games to seal his second win of the season against Safiullin (Brisbane SFs).

Hard-fought win 💪@holgerrune2003 battles past Safiullin 6-4 2-6 6-1!@abnamroopen | #abnamroopen | alyssavanheyst 📸 pic.twitter.com/ERxzaGWlyt

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 14, 2024

“I was for sure in trouble,” said Rune, the No. 7 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, when asked about his key hold of serve. “I wasn’t really playing great at that moment of the match, so I just told myself, ‘OK, let’s dig in, just keep digging dip. The longer the match goes, the more time I have to find my level’.

“That happened. I got that game, got some momentum after that one and then started playing really good from 2-1 in the third set.”

Rune, who fired 31 winners, including nine aces, according to Infosys ATP Stats, is now 42-17 in indoor matches on the ATP Tour. The Dane, who lifted the biggest title of his career at the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters, will take on Alexander Shevchenko in the second round as he chases his maiden quarter-final appearance in Rotterdam.

Sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov also overcame a high-powered opponent to book his second-round spot on Wednesday. The Bulgarian beat Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(4), 6-3 to improve to 11-2 for the season. Dimitrov, who arrived in Rotterdam off the back of a championship-match run in Marseille, will play Marton Fucsovics next.

Two-time titlist Gael Monfils extended his winning streak at Rotterdam Ahoy to 11 matches with a hard-fought 7-6(4), 7-6(5) triumph against Denis Shapovalov. Monfils, who lifted the trophy on his past two Rotterdam appearances in 2019 and 2020, saved all three break points he faced against Shapovalov to take a 2-1 lead in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Monfils may have to stop the in-form player on the ATP Tour if he is to extend his Rotterdam winning streak further. The 37-year-old Frenchman plays the winner of Wednesday’s night session match between top seed Jannik Sinner and home favourite Botic van de Zandschulp.

Emil Ruusuvuori continued his dominance of his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Ugo Humbert by downing the Marseille champion 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3. The Finn notched his second Top 20 win of the season in two hours, 20 minutes to improve to 5-0 against the World No. 18 Humbert.

In Wednesday’s only second-round match, Milos Raonic overcame Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-4 to reach his first tour-level quarter-final since the 2020 Rolex Paris Masters. The 33-year-old Raonic, who returned to competitive action last year after nearly two years away, powered 30 winners to snap the eighth-seeded Bublik’s five-match winning streak.