Carreno Busta Edges Rune In Halle Opener

Pablo Carreno Busta made a winning start to his grass-court season with a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory against #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune Monday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle.

The sixth-seeded Spaniard bounced back from a first-round loss to Gilles Simon at Roland Garros by beating surprise Paris quarter-finalist Rune, who was playing his first tour-level match on grass.

Carreno Busta saved five break points in the third game of the contest, then broke his 19-year-old opponent immediately after to edge in front in the opening set. He did not face another break point in the one-hour, 47-minute match.

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The Spaniard had two break points at both 4-4 and 5-5 in the second and led 5/2 in the tie-break, but needed to win the final two points of the match to close from 5/5. He improves to 2-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against Rune following a three-set win in the 2021 Metz quarter-finals.

Rune, who entered the Halle event at a career-high of No. 28 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, saved six of seven break points against the World No 19.

Carreno Busta advances to face Sebastian Korda or Cristian Garin. Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and wild card Nick Kyrgios loom as potential quarter-final opponents.