Holger Rune made a winning start to his title defence at the BMW Open by American Express on Thursday when he moved past German wild card Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 6-4 in Munich.

The 19-year-old was No. 70 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings when he earned his maiden tour-level title at the clay-court event 12 months ago. This week he returns at a career-high No. 7 after reaching the final in Monte-Carlo and he made a fast start at the ATP 250 event.

In the first ATP Head2Head meeting between Rune and Hanfmann, it was the Dane who quickly found his range in Munich, taking the ball early to hit through the German. He timed the ball cleanly off both wings and broke his opponent’s serve three times to advance after one hour and 25 minutes.

Rune now holds a 18-8 record on the season. The top seed is chasing his fourth tour-level title this week and will next face Cristian Garin or Lorenzo Sonego.