Rune Claims First Win Of 2022 In Marseille

Holger Rune survived a big scare to notch his first victory of the season with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Zizou Bergs at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille.

“At first it was tough,” said the #NextGenATP Dane after the match. “I was struggling a lot, making a lot of errors. He came out and played very well in the beginning, so I was a bit stressed.

“I tried to think like a professional, I tried to find a way. I’ve played too many matches in my career where I’ve lost the first set, so I just told myself, ‘Let’s stick in there, play every ball in the court, and let’s see what happens’.”

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World No. 90 Rune, who competed at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in November, came into the match with an 0-4 tour-level record in 2022 and looked to be in trouble again after Bergs won the first five games of the match and eased to the first set.

Rune belatedly found his game in the second set, however, and his confidence looked to have been fully restored as he surged to a double-break lead in the deciding set.

The 18-year-old, playing on the indoor hard courts of Marseille after an unsuccessful two-week stint on the South American clay, held his nerve to claim victory and let out a roar of relief when Bergs sent a forehand long on match point.

Rune will look to back up his win in a second-round clash with fourth seed Aslan Karatsev.

Three-time Marseille champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated compatriot Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-4 to book a second-round meeting with third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Tsonga increased his ATP Head2Head series lead to 10-4 with a convincing performance against Simon, who himself won the title in Marseille in 2007 and 2015. Former World No. 5 Tsonga served 11 aces as his opponent failed to register a break of serve in the match.

Hugo Gaston came out on top in another all-French clash, defeating Corentin Moutet 6-4, 6-4 to set a second-round meeting with top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Gaston was a constant threat on serve in the pair’s first tour-level meeting, breaking World No. 107 Moutet to secure his first tour-level win of the year.

Roman Safiullin notched his first tour-level victory since starring for Team Russia at the ATP Cup in January, upsetting seventh-seeded Australian Alexei Popyrin 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3).