Rune had a perfect start to the match and immediately broke the Frenchman's serve.
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard initially showed signs of weakness on the backhand side, and Rune quickly took advantage of that. The break later turned out to be decisive, as Perricard, thanks to his strong serve, otherwise did not give much away in his own games.
Several times Perricard delivered servers at over 220 and 230 kilometers per hour, and Rune struggled to get the returns in play.
Rune had two break opportunities and thus two set points when Perricard was behind 3-5, but the Frenchman managed to fend off both with great serves and reduce the deficit to 4-5.
Rune then took a medical timeout to remove an insect from his eye. Followingly, Rune managed to take advantage of his fourth set point after 40 minutes of play.
In the second set, momentum shifted back and forth as both players gave evidence of their incredible repertoire, but in the end Frenchman proved the stronger, securing the set in a tiebreaker 7-6 to force the game into a decisive third set.
However, Rune quickly recovered mentally from the disappointment of losing the second set and didn't seem affected by the Chinese heat as he quickly took a 3-0 lead in the third set.
The early break visibly allowed Rune to settle into his stylish stride, and he never allowed Perricard back into the game, which lasted two and a half hours.