His previous ATP win took him into the semi-finals in Stockholm in October 2025. The Achilles injury he suffered there kept the former world No.4 off the tour for 11 months.
Until Monday, his only win since his comeback came in Davis Cup in September, where he beat Grigor Dimitrov and No. 596 Radulov for Denmark.
Rune’s excellent stats in Basel
The decisive moments came right at the end. Ruhn raced to a 5-1 lead in the final set tiebreak, then saw Hallis reel off four straight points to tie the game at 5-5. The Dane took the next two, converting his first match-pony.
The third set was tight on both serves. Halis saved two break points on serve at 1-2, while Roone had to save one at 3-3 and another at 5-5 before taking a 6-5 lead.
Rooney took the opening set with a break at 3-3, then saved a break point as he served it out for 5-4. There was no break point at all in the second set and Hallis dominated the tiebreak, conceding just two points to force a decider.
It was the third meeting between the two men and Rooney has now won all three. Their first two matches both went five sets. Rooney came from two sets down to win 1-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the third round at Wimbledon in 2024, then won 4-6, 6-2, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 in the same round of the 2020 Ronaldo Cup.
Hurkach or Bergs next
Halis, who turned 30 on Monday, was looking to become the third Frenchman to reach 25 wins this season, after Arthur Fils and Hugo Humbert. The world No. 45, a career high, is now 0-2 in Basel and 1-8 on indoor hard courts at the tour level since the start of 2025.
Rooney, who reached the final in 2022 when he lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-5, has now won 11 of 14 meetings in Basel, where he reached at least the semi-finals in his three previous appearances between 2022 and 2024. a ticket to the quarter finals.
