Holger Rune had a relatively comfortable day at the office when he moved into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters by defeating Frenchman Corentin Moutet 6-2, 6-4 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on Friday.
After enjoying a bye in the first round, the 12th-seeded Dane won 6-2, 6-4 over French Corentin Moutet, who ranks number 79 in the world.
Rune delivered a convincing performance following a month characterized by illness and early exits, but against Moutet, Rue showed signs of his former brilliant self.
The match got off to a remarkable start. Already in the second game, the match had to be temprarily suspended due to a system failure and the players had to endure a 20-minute wait to get back into action.
Rune took the interruption with a smile and got off to the best start after the break.
The 21-year-old Dane dominated points pushing the despairing Moutet from side to side and the left-handed Frenchman struggled to get his gameplan going against the relentless Rune who served the first set home in confident style.
Rune began the second set in similar fashion as he won five balls in a row to break the Frenchman’s serve for 1-0.
In Moutet’s next service game, Rune also fought back from a deficit and raced to a 3-0 lead as Moutet’s temper boiled over and he repeatedly hammered the ball into the crowd and was handed a code violation by the referee.
Moutet raised his level after the outburst and reduced to 2-4, but Rune kept his cool and held his serve for the remainder of the match to eventually book his ticket for the next round of the tournament.
Rune, ranked No 13, will play Frenchman Ugo Humbert, the No 18 seed, next.
