Alex de Minaur’s hopes of a strong finish to his 2022 season have suffered another blow – at the hands of a teenager who’s now got the better of him twice in five days.
The Australian’s hopes of regaining his national No.1 spot from Nick Kyrgios were scuppered last Saturday when Holger Rune defeated him in the semi-finals of the Stockholm Open.
On Wednesday, the 19-year-old Dane returned to again haunt the Sydneysider on a European indoor hard court, winning their rematch — rather more convincingly — 6-2 7-5 at the Swiss indoors in Basel.
As ever, de Minaur couldn’t be faulted for heart as he tried to battle back from being blitzed in the opening stanza but Rune, a rare competitor, showed no hangovers from Stockholm, where he went on to win the tournament on Sunday, as he sealed victory in just under 90 minutes.
With his win on his Basel debut, the youngster will leapfrog world No.24 de Minaur in the next world rankings to be released, as the Australian’s own hopes of forging back into the top-20 will have to wait.
It was another hugely impressive display from Rune, who had to come from a set down to narrowly seal victory over de Minaur 7-5 in the final set in Stockholm but this time set the agenda from the start with a crushing forehand to land the very first point.
It was one of 14 winners he cracked in the opening stanza to leave de Minaur, who only managed one of his own in response, seeming a little shell-shocked.
But he regrouped strongly after saving a break point at the start of the second set and nearly earned a break of his own to go 3-1 up, only for Rune to produce some extraordinary tennis to deny him.
At 5-5, de Minaur threw in a couple of weak errors and Rune, upping the ante with some heavy ball-striking, carved out the decisive break and then took his array of winners to 26 as he served out for victory.