DANISH 21-year-old Holger Rune had to wait an extra 48 hours to finally step out on court for his first Shanghai Masters match, but the talented world number 14 made the most of it, surviving in-form opponent Matteo Berrettini in a two-hour showdown.

Due to constant rain, the second round matches that were meant to be completed on Saturday only got completed on Monday, with Berrettini having an extended break since triumphing in the opening round of the tournament. Berrettini raced out to an early lead before Rune worked his way back into the contest, eventually winning in two hours, 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Berrettini showed he was not going to be an easy feat for the 12th seed, with the Italian world number 44 producing six aces and only dropping five points on serve – one of which was a double fault – in a near flawless first set. He won it 6-4 and looked on top of Rune who had played pretty well himself, but only served one ace and was broken once despite losing just seven points on serve.

“I think [the match] was pretty good,” Rune said post-match. “It felt like he didn’t do many things wrong in the first set. I made a few errors, but then he was just on me. He didn’t allow me to make many mistakes. I think the same happened in the second and third sets, just the other way around. Every time he got slightly central or short, I was there to punish his shots.

“It was a good match, honestly. I think the tennis was very high quality. We were hitting a lot of winners, good serves, good movement, so I’m very happy to start my tournament like this.”

Rune being the quality player he is, forced his way back to nullify Berrettini’s booming serve in the last two sets, serving six aces himself to Berrettini’s 10. He won 82 and 68 per cent of his first and second serve points respectively, while not being broken in the last two sets. by comparison, he set up five break point opportunities in that time frame and converted two, to close out the match in two hours.

Rune will go on to face 33rd seed Jiri Lehecka who also had an extra break since beating Jaume Munar two days earlier on Saturday. In other results from yesterday, Italian Flavio Cobolli set up a huge third round clash with fourth seed Novak Djokovic after overcoming another Grand Slam champion in Stan Wawrinka, 6-7 7-6 6-3 in two hours and 30 minutes.

American seeded duo Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe both won through to the Round of 32 in straight sets, while Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Belgian David Goffin also booked their places in the next stage. Other winners were Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor, American Marcos Giron and Russian Roman Safiullin.