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The 6th seed Holger Rune is off to a winning start at the Madrid Masters. The young Dane fended off a match point in a tight 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 victory over Alexander Bublik, prevailing in two hours and four minutes. Holger played better behind the first and second serve, fending off three out of four break points and keeping the pressure on the other side.
Alexander made a terrible start and got broken three times in the opener. He regained his strokes in the second set and stayed competitive until the end, wasting a match point in the decider's tie break to end his run in the second round.
They hit over 60 service winners on the fast clay court. Holger tamed his strokes nicely and fired 34 winners and 12 unforced errors. It proved enough versus the rival's 30-28 ratio by only just. Bublik hit a double fault in the encounter's first game to experience a break and an early setback.
Rune denied a break point in game two and closed it to confirm the lead and move 2-0 ahead.
Holger Rune saved a match point vs. Alexander Bublik in Madrid.
The Dane landed an ace for 3-1 and placed a volley winner at the net in the next one for break points.
He seized the second after the rival's terrible forehand to clinch his second break and open a 4-1 gap. Bublik squandered break point in game six, and Rune brought it home with a behind-the-back volley winner that pushed him 5-1 ahead.
The Dane grabbed his third break in game seven with a smash winner to wrap up the opener 6-1 after 27 minutes and gain a boost. Alexander served well in the second set and clinched an early break to build the lead. Bublik landed a backhand down the line return winner in the third game to score a break and move in front.
He served well in games four, six and eight and opened a 5-3 gap. Bublik served for the set in game ten and held at 30 to take the set 6-4 and force a decider after 61 minutes of fast and floating tennis. Both players served well in the third set's opening ten games, with no deuces or break chances.
Holger held after deuce in game 11 for 6-5, and Alexander introduced a tie break with a hold a few minutes later. The breaker kicked off with four mini-breaks before Rune earned another at 5-4 to create match points. The Kazakh saved both and denied the third at 6-7 with a service winner.
Holger denied a match point at 7-8 with a smash winner at the net and blew his fourth match point at 9-8 after Alexander's booming serve. Finally, the young gun seized the fifth match point with an unreturned serve at 10-9 for a victory and a place in the third round.