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World No. 63 Brandon Nakashima couldn't hide his happiness after beating Holger Rune for the semifinal spot at the Next Gen ATP Finals. Nakashima, 20, beat Rune 3-4 (3) 4-1 4-1 4-3 (3) to book a semifinal ticket in his debut in Milan..
Nakashima beat Juan Manuel Cerundolo in his opener at the tournament but lost to Carlos Alcaraz in his following match. Nakashima and Rune both had one wins and one loss after the opening two matches. Nakashima and Rune clashed in a direct battle for the final semifinal spot from their group..
"It feels great [to reach the semi-finals],” Nakashima said in his on-court interview, per the Next Gen ATP Finals website. “It was a really tough match right from the beginning, but I tried to stay focused on one point at a time and tried to play to my strengths out there to get the win”.
Nakashima recovered from a slow start
Nakashima blew an early first set break as Rune managed to force a tie-break. After recovering from a break down, Rune dominated the tie-break to steal the first set. Rune served out the opening game of the second set but Nakashima then claimed back-to-back breaks and won four games in a row to level the match at one set apiece.
Rune started the third set with a break but Nakashima responded with back-to-back breaks to win four games in a row go up by two sets to one.. Rune was also up by a break in the fourth set but again failed to hold on to his serve.
Nakashima forced a tie-break, which he dominated to compete a four-set win. "I think after the first set the nerves started to settle and I started to swing a little bit more freely and started to find my first serve a little bit more,” Nakashima added.
“Just a combination of things, so I am happy to close it out in the end”. It remains to be seen if Nakashima can now go a step further and make the final in Milan.