Brunold loses in Basel as Holger Rune wins first ATP match in over a year

A tough main-draw debut for Brunold

Mika Brunold, a 22-year-old from Basel-Landschaft, lost 6-3, 6-1 to Portugal's Nuno Borges in 62 minutes in the first round of the Swiss Indoors on 26 October 2026. The lucky loser, ranked 191st, had reached the main draw with a 7-6, 7-6 win over Jaime Faria, who is ranked 57th. Brunold started well and took a 2-0 lead, but Borges then took the next five games and never gave him a real opening. The 29-year-old Portuguese stayed deep behind the baseline and forced the point whenever a rally stretched out. Brunold had won two Challenger titles in less than two months before the tournament, and he is now the second-best Swiss player in the ATP ranking behind Stan Wawrinka.

“It was a tough match, physically I was not in top shape. I had an opponent who was very gritty and made few mistakes.”

After the defeat, Brunold called it a cool experience despite the result. He is the first of five Swiss players in the Basel main draw to exit.

Rune back after more than a year

Holger Rune won his first ATP match since a torn Achilles tendon, beating Quentin Halys of France 6-4, 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-5). The former world No. 4 is currently ranked 1202nd. He tore the tendon in October 2025 at the Stockholm tournament, just before the Swiss Indoors, and returned in September 2026 in the Davis Cup. Before Basel he had lost in the first round in Tokyo and Shanghai. In the deciding set he saved five break points before winning the tiebreak.

Rune will play either Hubert Hurkacz of Poland or Zizou Bergs of Belgium in the round of 16.

Stricker falls to Ruud

Dominic Stricker, ranked 253rd, lost to Casper Ruud, the ninth seed and a former world No. 2, in three sets on the same evening. Ruud levelled the match at one set all with a break in the 12th game of the second set and then took the decider with a break on his third chance. Stricker hit 13 aces and had two break chances, both in the first game, converting only the second. He had beaten Ruud in the second round in Basel in 2023 and had reached the quarter-finals in 2023 and the round of 16 in 2022 and 2024. The Swiss left-hander lost only two points fewer than Ruud overall.

Round of 16 and what comes next

Following Ruud's win, Nuno Borges will meet Ruud in the round of 16. The opening ceremony also featured a farewell to Stan Wawrinka, who is now the Swiss player ranked above Brunold. Rune's next opponent depends on the other first-round result, which leaves Hurkacz or Bergs as his possible opponent. Brunold, Stricker and Rune all lost or won in their first main-draw meetings with the tour's top names, and the Swiss Indoors continue with the remaining Swiss players in the main draw.