Seventh seed Holger Rune of Denmark beat world #5 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Stockholm Open on Sunday to win the second ATP title of his career. The Dane played an almost flawless match to triumph on the day, but what were the keys to his win over the top-seeded Tsitsipas?
1. Rune overpowered Tsitsipas from the baseline:
Rune was hitting his groundstrokes with fearsome power right from the start of the match. He was particularly ferocious while hitting his backhands which Tsitsipas had no answer to. Rune is not known as one of the bigger hitters on the ATP Tour, but if he can continue to summon that much power that may well change. Rune also served well and, crucially, took advantage of his solid start. He managed to break the Greek in the third game of the first set to go 2-1 up and then held his serve to back up the break.
2. Rune thrived in the forecourt:
Rune not only had the better of things from the baseline, but he also repeatedly rushed the net to force the issue against Tsitsipas. He generally hit his approach shots well and demonstrated some good hands at the net. Tsitsipas struggled to find an answer to Rune’s aggressive approach, with his backhand in particular coming under a sustained examination. Troublingly, he also failed to really put Rune’s serve under pressure, with the Dane closing out the opening set comfortably enough when Tsitsipas sent a forehand flying beyond the baseline.
3. Tsitsipas played slices more often in the second set, but it was not enough:
Correctly judging that he was losing the power battle from the baseline, the 24-year-old Greek looked to his backhand slice and drop shots in the second set in an attempt to disrupt Rune’s rhythm. It was probably the right play for the Greek and he succeeded in taking some of the pace out of their baseline exchanges, but that did little to change the momentum of the match. Rune responded by hitting winners from inside the baseline as he seized on any shorter balls Tsitsipas gave him.
Rune also hit a few wonderful drop volleys and managed to get the decisive break in the third game, maintaining his advantage for the remainder of the set to finish off the match. Tsitsipas could win only 47% of the points on his second serve against Rune’s 68% in the match. The Dane also hit 20 winners against Tsitsipas’ 16. His win takes him to 24th in the Singles Race whilst Tsitsipas saw his frustrating run in final continue. He has now won just two of the seven that he has played this season.
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