Hubert Hurkacz (ATP 20) fought to win his seventh tournament on the tour. So far, the Pole has defeated Thanasis Kokinakkis (78th ATP; 7:6, 3:6, 7:6), Borna Coric (16th ATP; 5:7, 6:3, 6:3) during the ATP 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. ), Stefanos Tsitsipas (4th ATP; 6:3, 6:4) and Alexei Popyrin (58th ATP; 6:1, 7:6). Now Hurkacz faced the most difficult task, because his rival was Carlos Alcaraz (1st ATP).
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It was the third duel between Hurkacz and Alcaraz in the ATP tour. Previous duels were won by the Spaniard (7: 6, 7: 6 in the semifinals in Miami 2022 and 3: 6, 7: 6, 7: 6 in the third round in Toronto 2023). Despite the defeat in Toronto, the Pole was praised, among others for showing character. “Another match in which he confirmed that he can play tennis better than most of the season. Unfortunately, there is no breakthrough” – experts commented.
Hurkacz had the match ball. Alcaraz is becoming his nightmare
The beginning of the first set could herald trouble for the Pole. It was 40:15 and two break points for the Spaniard, but Hurkacz got out of this difficult situation and kept his own serve. He also took the first possible opportunity to break Alcaraz and led 3-0 in the set. The leader of the ranking had another opportunity to break Hurkacz in the fifth game, but he did not use the chance. It was evident that the pole’s service caused a lot of problems to the opponent when returning. Later in the set, Alcaraz had three break points but failed to convert any. Hurkacz broke his opponent in the eighth game, used the second set ball and won the set 6:2.
The second set started with the serving players winning games, but it was clear that Alcaraz was starting to get going. He had three break points in the third game, but failed to convert any of them. Hurkacz survived this difficult moment and kept the application. In the fourth game, after one of the actions won by the Pole, the gentlemen high fived each other. The fight between them was great. The status quo was maintained until the very end. Hurkacz had the match ball in the tenth game, but did not use it and Alcaraz kept the serve.
Everything became clear in the tie-break. The Pole quickly worked out a mini-break, but the advantage of 4: 1 became 4: 4 and Hurkacz lost this advantage. The Spaniard scored six points in a row and led to the decisive set.
The first three games were won by the serving players. In the fourth game, Alcaraz broke Hurkacz, using the third break point. The Pole did not reverse this state and lost the set 3:6, being eliminated in Cincinnati at the semi-final stage.
Alcaraz will play for the triumph in the tournament in Cincinnati with the winner of the match between Novak Djokovic (2nd ATP) and Alexander Zverev (17th ATP).
2023-08-19 23:36:00
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