Wimbledon: Holger Rune lives up to expectations and powers past British wild card George Loffhagen
- Planet Sport writer
- 5 July 2023
George Loffhagen showed great heart, but the Brit was inevitably beaten by Denmark's Holger Rune at Wimbledon.
British wild card George Loffhagen saw his Wimbledon debut end in a straight-sets defeat to sixth seed Holger Rune.
Loffhagen, world number 371, had pushed the Danish player hard during the first set on Tuesday before he was edged out in a tie-breaker and rain forced the clash to be suspended.
Rune upped his level when the first-round tie resumed on Wednesday afternoon and made it through 7-6 (4) 6-3 6-2 after just over two hours on court across two days.
While Loffhagen may only be 22, his main draw debut at the All England Club had been a long time in the making after he practised with Rafael Nadal as a teenager.
A spell away from the sport saw the Londoner swap trying to win points for pulling pints in a pub, but after returning to tennis in August, Loffhagen relished the challenge of facing current young gun Rune on Tuesday morning.
Resuming on Wednesday afternoon a set down, the British right-hander immediately forced three break points on the serve of the world number six.
But Rune showed his composure by holding and taking his own break point at the first time of asking to take control of the match.
Three aces from Loffhagen gave a glimpse into his potential and earned him another game, but the second set went away from him by a 6-3 score.
When Rune broke at the beginning of the third, the writing was on the wall and despite Loffhagen saving one match point, the home favourite bowed out following a straight-sets loss.
