Rune wins in Acapulco in first event with Mouratoglou back as coach | ATP Tour

Match Report

Rune rolls to Acapulco win with Mouratoglou back as coach

Altmaier upsets 2021 champ Zverev

February 28, 2024

Holger Rune bids to return to the Acapulco semi-finals for the second straight year.
By ATP Staff

A returning semi-finalist at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, Holger Rune picked up where he left off in Acapulco with a decisive win Tuesday in the opening round.

The second seed beat Michael Mmoh 6-2, 6-3 to notch his second Lexus ATP Head2Head win against the American this month (Montpellier). Rune saved all five break points he faced to ensure a straightforward result and will next meet American qualifier Aleksandar Kovacevic.

A touch of @holgerrune2003 magic ????@AbiertoTelcel | #AMT2024 pic.twitter.com/eybZGXvARI

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 28, 2024

Rune, playing in his first ATP Tour event since reuniting with coach Patrick Mouratoglou last week, was asked about the new setup after his victory.

“It’s great. Everything is how I like it,” he said of their partnership. “We might both agree that I executed [the game plan] very well. It just feels good.

“I’m just trying to build on every match. I thought it’s a great start, because It’s a very strong field in Acapulco, so you’ll have to play great tennis to be able to go deep and potentially win the tournament.”

The 20-year-old Dane broke early in both sets against Mmoh and and used an 86 per cent win rate on first serve to extend his lead. Rune lost just four points on first serve (25/29) in the 92-minute match, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

“I learned a lot from the last match we played,” Rune said of their repeat meeting. “But it was totally different conditions [then], indoors, pretty cold, a very long match. Today was different, I thought I played a really strong match. But credit to him, he’s always big fighter.”

Another American awaits in Kovacevic, who ended the Mexican winning streak of Los Cabos champion Jordan Thompson with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory later on Tuesday.

Daniel Altmaier closed out Tuesday’s play in Acapulco with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 upset of top seed and 2021 champ Alexander Zverev. Altmaier saved six of the seven break points against him in the all-German matchup, with a single break deciding each set on centre court.

The result against the World No. 6 is the biggest win of Altmaier’s career by the measure of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The 25-year-old is now 4-2 against Top 10 opponents, with his previous three victories coming on clay.