Daniel Altmaier rallied against Holger Rune, winning 1–6, 7–6(5), 6–4 on October 7 at the Shanghai Masters. Matteo Berrettini also needed three sets to beat Aleksandar Kovacevic: 6–7(3), 6–1, 6–4. Two wins with similar overall scorelines, but achieved in different ways.
Altmaier, ranked No. 67 in the tournament’s official report, finished his match in two hours and 14 minutes. Rune had dominated the first set and held serve throughout the second. The German had to hang on until the tiebreak to stay in the match.
One break changed the outcome
The decisive break came at 4–4 in the third set. It was the first time Rune lost his serve in the match, putting Altmaier in position to complete the comeback. This detail explains why the total number of games won is not enough to describe the tension: a break at the right moment can decide a very close match.
Altmaier’s next announced test is Ben Shelton. The German won their only previous meeting, on the clay courts of Hamburg earlier this year. That history provides context, but it does not make the result an automatic prediction: the surface and conditions in Shanghai present a different scenario.
Berrettini lost a set without giving up his serve
The Italian finished with 23 aces and did not face a break point against Kovacevic. Even so, he lost the first set in a tiebreak. There is no contradiction: a tiebreak decides a set in which both players held all their service games.
The gap widened in the second set, which Berrettini won 6–1, before he closed out the third 6–4. The tournament report lists Brandon Nakashima as his next opponent. The serving stat describes this win; it does not guarantee he can repeat that level of control in the next round.
What these matches teach us to watch
The set score summarizes who advanced, but leaves out how the advantage was achieved. In Altmaier–Rune, the key was surviving a difficult start and taking advantage of a late opportunity. In Berrettini–Kovacevic, holding serve kept the Italian in the match even when the tiebreak went the other way.
To follow the next rounds, it is worth looking at when break-point opportunities arise and how they are converted, as well as counting aces or winners. An eye-catching statistic can explain part of the result; placing it in the context of the match helps show how much it really mattered.
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