‘I learned a lot from it’ – Holger Rune bounces back from defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at Next Gen ATP Finals

Holger Rune lost his opener at the Next Gen ATP Finals to top seed Carlos Alcaraz, but he learned plenty from that match to regather himself.

The Norwegian teenager lost to the Spanish talent 4-3 (8-6), 4-2, 4-0 in the second match of the event yesterday.

Despite both being 18, Alcaraz has twice as much match experienceon the ATP tour. The Spaniard has a career win-loss record of 28-18 across 46 matches.

Meanwhile, Rune has played just 22 tour level matches with a record of 10-12.

Rune learned from his encounter with Alcaraz to oust Juan Manuel Cerundolo 4-1, 4-2, 1-4, 4-1.

“I’m very pleased,” Rune began his post-match interview. “After yesterday it was not easy because Carlos [Alcaraz] is playing extremely well.

“We both played at a very high level the first two sets. It’s never easy when you play well and you still lose the first two sets. So, it was tough just to keep going yesterday.”

Rune made sure to reverse his fortunes from the Alcaraz battle by winning the first two sets over Cerundolo.

“I learned a lot from yesterday. I took all the experience and took all the good things into today’s match,” he continued.

“Especially the first two sets were really good from my side. I didn’t leave him much time on the court, was really aggressive coming to the net.”

Rune finished 10th in the Next Gen ATP Race, not high enough to qualify outright. However, with the withdrawal of Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jenson Brooksby, the Norwegian made the cut.

In addition, Sebastian Baez and Hugo Gaston were the other two young players who benefitted from those absences to compete in Milan.

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