Holger Rune is out of the ATP 500 tournament in Basel, Switzerland. On Friday afternoon, the Dane was defeated by Monaco's Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, following a closely contested match in which the two players were evenly matched by most metrics.
Vacherot won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, securing his place in the semi-finals. 23-year-old Rune is in the process of a comeback; a month and a half ago, he returned to the ATP Tour following a lengthy Achilles tendon injury and recorded his first two wins since coming back in Basel.
Against both Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and France’s Quentin Halys, Rune faced very strong servers—and the same was true on Friday, as Vacherot delivered 20 aces compared to Rune’s five.
On Saturday, Vacherot will face either Taylor Fritz or Arthur Fils.
Rune appeared particularly sharp from the start. He moved Vacherot around the court effectively and punished him whenever the Monegasque failed to land his powerful first serve.
This earned the Dane six break points in the opening game, but Vacherot managed to grind out a 1-0 lead. Rune also applied pressure during Vacherot’s next service game. Leading 40-0, he held three break points, but once again, a series of blistering serves saved Vacherot.
Instead of a break for the Dane, it was his opponent who struck, converting his first break point in a game where Rune made a series of unforced errors.
At 2-5, Rune received treatment on his thigh for three minutes, but it offered little immediate relief. Vacherot had found his rhythm and took the first set. Rune struggled a bit in the opening game of the second set, but after breaking serve to love to take a 2–0 lead—following arguably his best game of the match—he set himself on a clear path to winning the set.
The third set was another tight affair with few break opportunities. The turning point came when Vacherot secured a break to lead 4–2, having also significantly raised his level on his own serve compared to the second set.