Holger Rune endured a miserable outing at the Italian Open as he slumped to a 6-2, 2-6, 3-6 loss to Sebastian Baez in the third round. The Dane's display, particularly across the last two sets, received fierce criticism from tennis fans.
Rune, the No. 10 seed in Rome, had received a first-round bye and started his campaign at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the second round against Luca Nardi. The 2023 Italian Open finalist progressed to the third round following a 6-4, 6-4 win over the unseeded youngster.
Rune looked on course for another straightforward victory against Baez after thoroughly outclassing the Argentine in the first set. However, Baez, a clay court specialist of sorts, did not give up. The No. 17 seed came roaring back into the contest, and ultimately, the quality of both his first and second serves was telling. Baez also converted five out of six of his break point opportunities.
Following the conclusion of the match, tennis fans on Reddit turned critical as they dissected the inherent flaws in Rune's game. One set of fans questioned the Dane's tennis IQ.
"I‘m extremely disappointed in Rune. Baez didn’t play extraordinarily, he was just solid and waited and Rune did his job and gifted him the match. Constantly rushing to the net with absolute no go approaches or second serves is just mind boggling. I’m starting to question his tennis IQ as well as his team. Like every loss is the same. How can they keep making the same textbook mistakes and no effort for a change?!! How?!!" asked one fan.
"Rune continues to randomly go to a super aggressive playstyle that he's HORRIBLE at. I get some fans love "variety" but too much of it isn't good either and spamming net rushes and serve volleys against a good returner on SLOW CLAY is insanity. Until he accepts that he's not an Alcaraz-type attacking player and embraces his strengths which would help him more with counterpunching he won't take the next step," wrote another fan.
"Had so much high expectations for Holger Rune when he beat Djokovic to win Paris masters. There was a time when this sub rated him above Sinner. He obviously still has loads of time but clay is his best surface and I was backing him to defend his final points at the very least," commented another fan.
Another set of fans hinted at more misery for Rune in the future considering his poor performance against Baez.
"Rune decided he was not at the rock bottom yet, so we continue down. Brace yourselves, Rune fans," one fan wrote.
"How long do you think it is until Rune and Patrick (Mouratoglou) mutually part ways again," wrote another fan.
"Break up now, back together for RG (Roland Garros, French Open)," another fan wrote in reply to the previous comment.
Yet another set of fans criticized Rune's attitude towards the end of the match against Baez.
"Rune showed a pathetic lack of focus in the end there. He loves tanking, he really does. He does it more often than any top player in decades. So much talent and he chooses to waste it because he’d rather throw a temper tantrum," one fan wrote.
"Literally didn't care in the last two sets. His attitude was abysmal," another fan chimed in.
"It's like a switch with Rune sometimes, he just goes from amazing to terrible in an instant. No fitness?" asked another fan.
Victory against Holger Rune at Italian Open helps Sebastian Baez to level head-to-head against the Dane
Baez went into the third-round clash against Rune at the Italian Open trailing the Dane narrowly in the pair's head-to-head on the ATP Tour. However, with his come-from-behind win over the Dane, Baez and Rune are now tied at 2-2 in their head-to-head.
The Argentine's next challenge at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament will be to get the better of No. 7 seed Hubert Hurkacz, who reached the fourth round after defeating Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Baez and Hurkacz's match in Rome will mark the first time the pair faces each other on the ATP Tour.