Sixth-seeded Holger Rune upset top seed Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (6), 6-2 to win the title at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell in Spain on Sunday.
It is the first ATP Tour title since 2023 for Rune, who now has five career wins — three of them on clay.
Rune was down a break in the first set but came back to win in the tiebreaker and then cruised through the second set, against Alcaraz, who required two medical timeouts to have medical staff look at his upper right leg during the one-hour, 41-minute match.
With the win, Rune, of Denmark, will return to the Top 10 when the updated ATP rankings are released Monday. Alcaraz would have retained his No. 2 spot with a victory but will drop to the No. 3-ranked singles player in the world after the defeat.
Alcaraz won the Barcelona title in 2022 and 2023 in his home country.
BMW Open
Alexander Zverev gave himself a memorable birthday gift, defeating Ben Shelton 6-2, 6-4 to win the championship in Munich.
On his 28th birthday, the German secured his third title at the tournament in front of his home fans in just 71 minutes. It was his 24th ATP Tour victory.
Since reaching the Australian Open final in January, Zverev was just 6-6 in tour matches, but he seemed refreshed in Munich, taken to three sets just once on the road to the final of the clay-court tournament.
In the final, Zverev won 89 percent of points on his first serve and had just seven unforced errors compared to 21 for Shelton. He didn’t face a break point and broke Shelton’s serve three times as he moved to 2-0 in his career against the 22-year-old American.
Zverev, who will move up to No. 2 in the ATP rankings, previously won in Munich in 2017 and 2018.
–Field Level Media
