August Holmgren booked his ticket for an ATP Masters 1000 tournament for the first time in his career when he won 6-4, 7-6 against the Belgian Gauthier Onclin to secure his access for the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday morning.
The decisive match in the qualification against Onclin was close throughout the game.
In the first set, Holmgren and Onclin held serve until 3-3, after which Holmgren broke his opponent and took the lead 4-3.
Before that, Holmgren had fended off a break point in his first service game, and the Dane fended off another, shortly before he took a 5-3 lead.
Onclin, ranked 192 in the world, reduced the deficit to 4-5, but Holmgren was able to serve home the opening set.
In the second set, Holmgren broke and took a 3-2 lead, but was broken back this time when he served for the match at 5-4, and Onclin instead restored parity at 5-5.
Soon after, the match was to be decided in a tiebreak, where Holmgren showed coolness to edge ahead 5-1.
The 27-year-old Dane never looked back, and he is now ready for one of the biggest tournaments of his career.
On Monday, Holmgren defeated the Taiwanese Chun Hsin Tseng, who is number 122 in the world, in three sets.
It has not yet been determined who Holmgren will face in the first round of the main tournament.