Fils, Rune win Hamburg openers

p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/arthur-fils/f0f1/overview'Arthur Fils/a took his time to find his best level on Tuesday at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/hamburg/414/overview'Hamburg Open/a. It was worth the wait. /p

p The #NextGenATP Frenchman overcame a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jaume-munar/mu94/overview'Jaume Munar/a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 after delivering a classy third-set performance. Fils, who reached his first ATP 500 semi-final in Hamburg a year ago, struck a series of scintillating winners off both wings in the closing stages of his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Munar. /p

p ldquo;The first set was very tough. I think that I was playing quite good, but the level he was playing was unbelievable, actually,rdquo; said Fils, who will play 2023 finalist a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/laslo-djere/db63/overview'Laslo Djere/a next. ldquo;I tried my best to stay composed, to stay focused in the second set, because maybe if I got an early break his level could drop. /p

p ldquo;I think I did a great job in the second set and put my foot on the accelerator. I played my best level in the third set.rdquo; /p

blockquote class="twitter-tweet"

p lang="en" dir="ltr""It doesn't get better" ????br /

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Fils completes a compelling 5-7 6-3 6-1 comeback over Munara href="https://twitter.com/hamburgopenatp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"@hamburgopenatp/a | a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HamburgOpenATP500?src=hashamp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"#HamburgOpenATP500/a a href="https://t.co/mHaxpVPBPQ"pic.twitter.com/mHaxpVPBPQ/a/p

mdash; ATP Tour (@atptour) a href="https://twitter.com/atptour/status/1813191556876169688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"July 16, 2024/a/blockquote

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p Fils converted five of 10 break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in his two-hour, 11-minute win. The 20-year-old endured a tough first few months of 2024 and won just seven matches across nine tournaments in February, March and April, but he is now 20-17 for the year after backing up his fourth-round run at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a with Monday's Hamburg win. /p

p ldquo;I think that I just worked very hard,rdquo; said Fils, when asked how he had turned his year around. ldquo;In the first part of the season I was working hard. Of course, the results were not there, but I think that if you trust the process, if you still play the best that you can and every day give the best effort that you can, at the end it pays off.rdquo; /p

p With his victory against Munar, Fils also extended his lead in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. He is in a strong position to reach the season-ending a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a, where he reached the championship match in 2023./p

pnbsp;/p

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pSecond seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/holger-rune/r0dg/overview'Holger Rune/a exacted revenge on a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/fabian-marozsan/m0ci/overview'Fabian Marozsan/a with a 6-4, 6-4 victory to close play on Hamburg's centre court. Three months after Marozsan's 6-1, 6-1 victory against Rune in Miami, the Dane levelled their Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1 mdash; though he had to overcome a knee problem in the second set./p

p"For me it feels very good to get that revenge," Rune said. "I played really not at my level [last time], but at the same time credit to him for really producing some very, very good tennis. I definitely worked much harder, much more dedicated since Miami, and I have a strong will."/p

pRune saved all four break point against him in the victory and won 89 per cent of his first-serve points. Now 12-2 in German ATP Tour events on clay, including Munich titles in 2022 and 2023, the Dane is bidding to join Swedes a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/kent-carlsson/c019/overview'Kent Carlsson/a (1988) and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/stefan-edberg/e004/overview'Stefan Edberg/a (1992) as the only Scandinavian champions in Hamburg in the Open Era./p

pRune is also 12-2 in opening rounds this season. His victory against Marozsan is his first against an opponent inside the Top 50 of the PIF ATP Rankings since he beat a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mariano-navone/n0bs/overview'Mariano Navone/a in Madrid./p

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p a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/luciano-darderi/d0fj/overview'Luciano Darderi/a was also an early winner in Hamburg on Tuesday. The Italian defeated lucky loser a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/nick-hardt/h0a4/overview'Nick Hardt/a 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 to set a second-round clash with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-shevchenko/s0h2/overview'Alexander Shevchenko/a. /p

p In later action, third seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sebastian-baez/b0bi/overview'Sebastian Baez/a made an impressive start to his Hamburg campaign by dispatching home favourite a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/dominik-koepfer/ke73/overview'Dominik Koepfer/a 6-2, 6-3. The Argentine, who won in Rio de Janeiro in February, is this week bidding to join a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rafael-nadal/n409/overview'Rafael Nadal/a (2013) and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a (2022) as the only players to win multiple clay ATP 500s in the same season in series history (since 2009). /p

p The next challenge for Baez will be a second-round meeting with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/dusan-lajovic/l987/overview'Dusan Lajovic/a, who downed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/felipe-meligeni-alves/mw75/overview'Felipe Meligeni Alves/a 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3. Eighth seed a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.atptour.com/en/players/zhizhen-zhang/z371/overview" target="_blank"Zhang Zhizhen/a also made a flying start on the German clay. He overcame a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/thiago-seyboth-wild/sx91/overview'Thiago Seyboth Wild/a 7-6(6), 6-0 to set a clash with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a. /p

p [NEWSLETTER FORM] /p