Rune comes to life at UTS London, eliminates Bublik

“I’m super happy,” Rune said. “I was moving well, playing well, so I am really excited about tonight.”

Both men had lost their first match but it was Rune who started much the stronger. Having fallen away against De Minaur on Friday, The Viking was wary of getting ahead of himself but he looked strong throughout and Bublik looked sluggish, making too many unforced errors to hand The Viking an easy path through the opening quarter, taking it 21-8.

Rune ups the forehand power

Speaking after the first quarter, Bublik said he needed some help from the crowd to “make Holger miss more” but at the start of the second, there were no gifts from the Dane, who quickly burst out to a 5-0 lead.

Bublik showed his class with a drop shot, lob, pass combination to get on the board but The Viking was cutting loose, upping the power on his forehand and causing mayhem with his changes of pace and elevation.

The Bublik Enemy was playing incredibly quickly between points, trying to race Rune, who had found things difficult, physically, in his defeat by De Minaur. This time, he was bouncing around the court, pummelling the ball for winner after winner, every time he had a bit of time on the ball.

Rune didn’t win his own bonus card at the end of the quarter but did stop Bublik winning his, going on to win the quarter 17-9 and double his lead.

Bublik fights, but Rune too strong

Down and out, and mumbling to his coach at the sit-down between quarters, Bublik looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but he fought hard at the start of the third quarter, slapping a return winner to get to 5-4.

But Rune returned the favour and slowly pulled away. Trailing 12-9, Rune played his bonus card and Bublik, serving big, went long and the match was over, Rune finishing it off 18-12.