The world No 9 gained an impressive 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in his first match at the Canadian Masters, saving a crucial set point in the first-set tiebreak.

Rune has had a mixed last three months, winning the title at the Barcelona Open, but failing to reach a semi-final at any event since.

In that Spanish final, the one-time Masters 1000 champion defeated Alcaraz 7-6(6), 6-2 – a victory which Rune believes is a sign that he can compete against the world’s best.

“Consistently playing at that [top] level does make a difference,” the Dane analysed during post-match press conference, when asked if he believes that he can challenge Sinner and Alcaraz.

“The question is if very few players can reach their level and have the opportunity to beat them, and I believe so. This is something we have also seen in the past.

“Carlos had an excellent streak of many matches. They have managed to maintain a high level of consistency, which is very difficult and requires a lot of dedication.

“That’s what I’m also working on because I definitely believe I have a good game that can, as I have shown in the past, challenge them and win matches against them.

“It is very interesting. They are the players you want to compete against in the most important finals. I feel that, in my case, the more often I can do that, the better my level will improve too.”

Indeed, Rune possesses a competitive 2-2 head-to-head against Alcaraz, winning two of their three most recent meeting.

Meanwhile, Sinner leads the Dane 3-2 in their record of clashes, with the world No 1 winning all of their last three matches.

Both of Rune’s victories against Sinner were matches in which he battled back from a set down (Sofia 2022 and Monte Carlo 2023).

Most recently, the former world No 4 was spotted practising alongside eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi in Washington.

Despite the multiple days of collaboration, Rune made clear that the American is not his coach, but the pair will continue to ‘be in touch’ going forward.

“I got in touch with him after Roland Garros,” the 22-year-old explained.

“We talked, called each other, and discussed spending a few days together.

“I was very excited to see his opinion on my game, how he saw it, and how he could help me improve things a bit. Three days won’t change much, but it was nice, really nice to see his opinion on my game.

“We talked a lot and also had good sessions on the court.

“He won’t be with me at tournaments, so he’s not like my coach, but we definitely stay in touch. Yes, he is a very, very nice guy, and I highly respect his vision of tennis; it’s incredible. Additionally, obviously, his career was amazing.

“I’ve watched many videos of him and admire him a lot. I have my lifelong coach, Lars (Christensen), who does most of the work.

“He’s doing amazing, I respect him a lot. He has been instrumental in shaping the player I am today, so I’m not going to change.”

Rune won an impressive 87% of first serve points and 95% of points on his second serve against the Frenchman in Toronto, something which was aided by supposed ‘slight adjustments’ to his serve.

“We made some adjustments to my serve, and I was ready to play today, but it always depends on how you enter the match, and sometimes you revert to your old habits, but I kept it up and felt very comfortable,” added the world No 9.

“That was very important today because he has a huge serve, so it was also good to get many free points.

“Today, I focused a lot on the game plan, making it difficult for him. He’s a player that’s going to hit powerful serves, you can’t do anything, you just have to wait for your chance. And I did that well, I was very focused.”