Rune Rolls Past Garin In Belgrade

At his best, Cristian Garin is one of the best clay-court players on the ATP Tour, but Holger Rune dominated the Chilean on Monday.

The #NextGenATP star from Denmark eliminated the fifth seed 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 25 minutes to reach the second round of the Serbia Open in Belgrade. The 18-year-old will next play home favourite Dusan Lajovic or Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel.

The victory continued a hot streak for Rune, who earlier this month won the Sanremo Challenger and qualified for the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where he upset Aslan Karatsev in the first round.

Rune put constant pressure on Garin, earning 17 break points and converting six of them. The teen, who is at a career-high No. 72 in the ATP Rankings, won 58 per cent of his return points on his Belgrade debut.

In other action, Slovenian Aljaz Bedene clawed past Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 after two hours and 38 minutes. The World No. 164 will play sixth seed Fabio Fognini or Marco Cecchinato for a place in the quarter-finals.

Did You Know?
Entering their clash on Monday, Garin had the same number of clay-court ATP Tour titles (5) as Rune had tour-level match wins on the surface.