Rune trailed 2-5, 40/15 on the Van de Zandschulp serve in the third set as he battled a problem with his upper right arm.
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On Sunday at the BMW Open, top seed Holger Rune overcame physical difficulties and a sizable deficit to defeat Botic van de Zandschulp 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(3) in one of the season’s most remarkable comeback victories so far in 2023. Rune trailed 2-5, 40/15 on the Van de Zandschulp serve in the third set as he battled a problem with his upper right arm. But on the Bavarian clay, he made an incredible comeback, saving four championship points and dominating the tie-break despite twisting his ankle in the tenth game of the final. Rune became the first athlete to successfully defend an ATP Tour title in 2023 with his fourth tour-level victory. The 19-year-old is currently 9-0 in matches on clay courts for the ATP 250.
“I was feeling really exhausted but I was fighting until the end and I tried everything I could to come back into the match,” Rune said. “I think for the crowd it was the perfect final. We really pushed each other to the limit and I am super happy I defended the title today. It is the last match and the last push, so you try to find a way. It could help me a little bit to not be as hurt. It was a struggle but I managed to get it done.”
After successfully breaking Van de Zandschulp’s serve twice in the seventh game, Rune won the tense first set. In the second set, however, the Dutchman improved at handling Rune’s variety as he frequently used elegant movement on the clay to block his opponent’s drop shots.
After levelling the match at 1-1 in the second set, Van de Zandschulp won seven straight games to seize control and appeared poised to win with ease as the Dane started to tyre physically. Rune managed to stay in rallies despite being forced to use weak forehands as a tight Van de Zandschulp failed to serve out the match at 5-2, 5-4, and once more at 6-5.
Iga Swiatek, the current world No. 1, successfully defended her Stuttgart Open crown on Sunday by outlasting No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4. After a one-hour, fifty-minute-long, intense match on Stuttgart’s indoor clay, in a rematch of last year’s championship, Swiatek won her 13th singles championship overall. At the Stuttgart Open, Swiatek continued her perfect career (8-0 in her two appearances) and increased her overall WTA singles finals record to 13-3. In their ongoing rivalry, Swiatek currently leads a 5-2 win-loss record against Sabalenka.
“I wanted to win really, really hard, but I knew that I can’t really focus on that and just I have to keep doing my job as I did on previous matches,” Swiatek said afterward. “I’m pretty happy that I could kind of have good mentality and just focus on what I want to do tennis-wise.”
Swiatek successfully defended a title for the third time in her career after doing so in Rome in 2022 and Doha this year. Two out of the three title defences on the tour this year were accomplished by Swiatek. The other was earlier this month’s Bogota title defence by Tatjana Maria.
