Holger Rune showed glimpses of his former impressive form when he secured his ticket for the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai with a 7-5, 6-4 win against Sebastian Baez.
After sitting out the first round, the tenth-seeded Dane won 7-5, 6-4 over Argentine Sebastian Baez, who is currently ranked 41 in the world.
Rune has previously lost to Baez three times in his career, but it has always been on clay, which is Baez's clear favorite surface.
On the hard court in Shanghai, Baez did well, but Rune showed that he is just a level above the Argentine.
Rune looked bright from the beginning and even improvised early on, hitting a ball between his legs in a desperate defensive action when the ball was played onto his body.
But Baez had also come to play tennis. He was quick to take the initiative in the baseline duels when Rune¨s serve wasn't up to standard. And the Dane had great challenges in winning the points behind his second serve.
Rune was broken to 0-1, but then broke twice in a row to make it 3-1 before Rune himself was broken again.
The first set was decided on a knife-edge, but Rune found his best level at the end of the set and produced the necessary winners to break to 7-5.
Rune took his momentum into the second set, where he dished out great tennis at times. At the same time, Baez lost a bit of steam.
The Dane broke immediately and made it 3-0, and it continued from there until he could serve home the win at 5-3.
In the third round, Rune will face the 21st-seeded Frenchman, Ugo Humbert, who on Friday beat the Australian Jordan Thompson 6-3, 7-6.