After suffering a heavy defeat last week, Holger Rune also failed to get back to winning ways on Wednesday.
At the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, he lost his first-round match to Germany's Daniel Altmaier, ranked 67th in the world.
Rune won a spectacular first set before eventually losing the match 6-1, 6-7, 4-6. However, there were more positive signs than when Rune was thoroughly outplayed by Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet last week.
Rune played a near-perfect first set and when he landed his first serve, he won 86 percent of the points, while also keeping unforced errors to a minimum.
Rune played patiently, hitting winners or pushing Altmaier to the limit whenever the opportunity arose. The first set was over in just 25 minutes.
In the second set, the German settled into a more solid rhythm while Holger Rune lost some of the sting in his shots, making the match a more balanced affair.
With the score at 4-3 in the German's favor, Rune came under pressure after falling behind 0-30 in his own service game. However, the Dane kept his cool and managed to turn the game into his own advantage.
Shortly after, Holger Rune had a golden opportunity to secure a service break of his own when Daniel Altmaier committed his first double fault of the match, giving the Dane a break point. However, the chance went begging.
The second set went to a tie-break, during which Rune experienced physical issues, pointing his racket toward the area around his left knee. Altmaier played solidly and won the second-set tie-break 7–5, leveling the match at one set all.
Rune was frustrated and signaled to his VIP box that he intended to withdraw from the match. However, he was apparently persuaded to continue, and he remained competitive for much of the third set.
A single service break proved decisive, and it went the German's way. With the score at 4–4, Altmaier broke the Dane's serve and subsequently served out the match following some dramatic rallies.