Will Rune beat the risk-taking Swiss?
With Roger Federer (2009) and Stan Wawrinka (2015), there have already been two overall winners from Switzerland in the men’s singles at the French Open. However, at the 126th edition of the only Grand Slam tournament held on clay, only one Swiss player, Henri Laaksonen, made it into the round of the best 64 players. The 30-year-old defeated clay court expert Pedro Martínez 3:1 to reach the final.
Now the last Swiss in the field will clash with the only Dane competing in the men’s singles at the French Open. Holger Rune already caused a surprise in the first round when he dispatched the favoured Denis Shapovalov in three sets. Consequently, in the run-up to the second round between Holger Rune and Henri Laaksonen, the odds are swinging in the direction of the Dane
However, it has to be said that the Danish shooting star is still very inexperienced, while Henri Laaksonen already had a strong run at Roland Garros a year ago and reached the third round. We therefore trust the Swiss to ensure a close match.
The biggest value for Holger Rune against Henri Laaksonen can be found in the tip on the Swiss with an Asian handicap of +8.5 games.
Holger Rune – Statistics & Current Form
Current ranking in the world ranking list: 40
Position in the seedings: unseeded
The 19-year-old Dane Holger Rune started his professional career with much advance praise. Two years ago, the man from Copenhagen finally defeated Toby Kodat in the final of the French Open boys’ singles and became only the fourth Dane to win a Grand Slam title.
Currently, the career of the 40th-ranked player in the world is also taking off on the ATP Tour. At the beginning of May, just two days after his 19th birthday, he won his first singles title in Munich.
Scored on first serve 76% of the time
With a correspondingly broad chest, Holger Rune started for the first time in his career in the men’s singles at the French Open, where he had to make do with the underdog role against Denis Shapovalov. In fact, however, he did not give the Canadian a chance in exactly two hours.
The Dane raced into a 2-0 lead with only four games to spare before the third set went to a tiebreak. Here, too, the 19-year-old kept his nerve and came to a convincing 3:0 victory against a seasoned top-20 player. The Copenhagen player surrendered only one service game, with his first serve winning 76% of the points.
Lost ten of 23 singles in 2022
The shooting star is now correspondingly favoured going into the second round, where the Dane has excellent chances of reaching the third round against his opponent from Switzerland. Looking at the tournament tree, even a place in the last 16 is absolutely realistic for his French Open debut.
Before that, however, Holger Rune’s bet on his second singles win at a Grand Slam tournament against Henri Laaksonen has to come true. That this is not a foregone conclusion is proven by the fact that among his ten defeats in 2022 are several lost matches against comparatively small opponents far away from the top 100 of the ATP world ranking list.
Henri Laaksonen – Statistics & current form
Current world ranking: 96
Position in the seedings: unseeded
The 30-year-old Swiss Henri Laaksonen has been a professional tennis player since 2009. However, the native of Finland was only able to break into the top 100 for the first time in 2021.
His strong performances at the French Open 2021 and the US Open 2021 were partly responsible for this. In both tournaments, the athlete, who once reached the semi-finals in the boys’ singles at the French Open in 2009, reached the third round. In Roland Garros, where even more was possible, the remarkable run also ended unhappily due to an adductor injury.
66 winners and eight aces against Pedro Martínez
Laaksonen, who initially failed in the first round at the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, can also build on his strong performance at Roland Garros. The Swiss initially lost the first set against clay court expert Pedro Martínez, but then managed a 3:1 comeback victory.
The 30-year-old’s risky style of play was conspicuous, but he was ultimately rewarded for it. The 58 unforced errors were not only offset by 66 winners, but also by eight aces – a really good value for a clay court.
14 of 19 break points fended off in the opening match
However, it is precisely this risky style of play that Laaksonen will need again against a Dane who is particularly strong on returns in order to win the points. In view of the fact that only 55% of his first serves were served and he had to accept no less than 19 break points, 14 of which he defended, the potential for improvement is enormous.
It is clear that the Swiss will also win his matches in the second round. However, it seems unlikely that it will be enough to draw the match in the end.
Holger Rune – Henri Laaksonen Direct comparison / H2H balance
Head to head: 0:0
Both players face each other on the court for the first time. There is therefore no “head to head” data that could influence the forecast in the case of Holger Rune vs. Henri Laaksonen
Holger Rune – Henri Laaksonen Tip
The shooting star from Denmark is the clear favourite in the second round match, but could have a hard time depending on the form of his opponent from Switzerland on the day. Henri Laaksonen already impressed in the first round with a very risky game, which, apart from many errors, also resulted in an excessive number of winners. Accordingly, many a rally promises to be spectacular in this duel as well.
The greatest value is offered by the bet on the Swiss with an Asian handicap of +8.5. Should his Danish opponent win the three-set match, the 30-year-old would need to win at least ten games spread over three sets, which seems very realistic.
