Holger Rune ‘close to perfection’ as Matteo Berrettini retires, Taylor Fritz beats Frances Tiafoe at ATP Acapulco

Holger Rune was in imperious form as he progressed through to the semi-finals at ATP Acapulco at the expense of Matteo Berrettini, who eventually had to retire injured due to a right-leg injury.

The 19-year-old rising star bagelled the Italian in a flawless opening set and swiftly grabbed a break of serve at the start of the second to further establish his dominance in the encounter before Berrettini was forced to withdraw from the ATP 500 tournament.

Despite the unfortunate exit suffered by the world No. 24, Rune was left to reflect on what he branded as a performance that was “close to perfection” as the fourth seed lost just seven points in the entire match and set up a semi-final clash with Australia’s Alex de Minaur.

“I think it was close to perfection from my side,” Rune said after the one-sided match. “I was playing so disciplined from the start to the finish.

“Of course, it’s never nice to end this way. I wish Matteo the best. But if I look at my own level, I was super proud of how I handled the situation so I just can’t wait for the semi-final.”

De Minaur, who should present a tough test for the exciting and ascending Rune, progressed through to the last four with a 6-2 6-2 victory against Japan’s Taro Daniel.

On the other side of the draw, third seed Taylor Fritz secured a very impressive 6-3 6-4 victory against his American compatriot Frances Tiafoe to reach the semi-finals in style.

Fritz reached his third successive semi-final at ATP Tour events as he defeated the ever-dangerous Tiafoe, despite finding just 50 per cent of his first serves in the match.

Despite his serving percentage, the 25-year-old was left to reflect on another encouraging win that saw him progress to the last four of a top tournament once again.

“I’m happy with how I played the big points,” Fritz said. “It’s really easy to get frustrated with myself when I’m missing every first serve.

“It’s really easy to get down on myself for that, and I kind of just fought it out, accepting that I’m going to have to play and grind out all these points and I wasn’t going to be getting the amount of free points that I’m used to getting.

“I’m pretty proud of how I competed through a lot of those long games on my serve.”

Fritz will next take on another American, Tommy Paul, who came through his quarter-final with compatriot Mackenzie McDonald in straight sets, 6-2 6-2, earlier on as his very fine start to the season continued.

“I’d say it’s similar to how I would play Frances,” Fritz said when asked about facing Paul.

“He is one of my close friends, we both know each other’s game really well. Tommy has been playing well. It has been a while since we’ve played each other and it is going to be a good match.”

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