Hubert Hurkacz returned to the game on Saturday after a month-long break caused by a knee injury (he suffered it in match second round of Wimbledon). Due to injury, the best Polish tennis player He did not take part in the Olympic Games in Paris, where he was supposed to compete in three events: singles, doubles with Jan Zieliński and mixed doubles with the best tennis player in the world – Iga Świątek.
Hurkacz protested, he didn't want to play in Montreal anymore. He came back and it was a thriller
Now Hubert Hurkacz is competing in the ATP 1000 tournament in Montreal. The Pole first defeated the Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (81. ATP) 4:6, 6:3, 7:6 (8:6)and then the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech (65th ATP) 4:6, 6:3, 6:4.
The 27-year-old Pole's opponent in the quarterfinals was the 25-year-old Australian Alexei Popyrin (62. ATP). Hurkacz, who played this opponent three times and won 2:0 each time, started the match badly, because he was broken in the first game. However, he quickly tied the game (2:2). The Pole shone at the end of the first set. From 3:3 he won 12 out of 15 actions!
Hurkacz started the second set better. He broke his opponent in the third game and after a while he was leading 3:1. However, he was unable to maintain the advantage and there was a thrilling ending. At 5:5 the Pole had two chances to break. However, his opponent defended himself with two great winning serves and then won the game on advantage.
It has come to this. tie-break. The Pole has had a balance of 25 wins and 19 losses this year. At 3:3 Hurkacz made a double service fault. In the next two rallies Popyrin first played a forehand winner, and in the next one he made an unforced forehand error and led 5:4. Hurkacz responded with an effective service, but at 5:5 he hit a backhand from the back line into the net. As a result, the Australian had the ball set. He had already used the first one, because the Pole had thrown the ball over the end line with a backhand return.
Tradition was thus fulfilled and Hurkacz's third match in a row in Montreal was decided by the third set. With the score at 2:2, 40:40 and Hurkacz serving, it began to rain. The Pole, unlike Popyrin, approached the referee and did not want to continue playing. There was an exchange of words, and the referee gave our player a warning. At one point, the Pole even demanded that the supervajzor appear on the court. The fans were impatient and whistles appeared. Eventually, Hurkacz returned to the game, and the supervajzor did not have to come to the court.
The Pole had big problems with his serve in this set. The numbers are the best proof of that. In all of the first four service games he had to defend a break point!, and in total even as many as seven. However, he managed to get out of trouble every time.
In the eighth game, Popyrin was serving and after two consecutive unforced errors he was losing 0:40. He saved the first break point with an ace. In the second, Hurkacz threw the ball with a backhand from the end line from behind the end line. In the third, the last chance for the Pole, the Australian played a great forehand winner, and after a moment he won the game on advantage.
At 5:5, the Pole was serving and it was 30:30. Then Hurkacz made an unforced error with a backhand, and after a moment he was lucky, because he went to the net after an unsuccessful attack, and the Australian missed with a forehand from the half court and it was an advantage game. At the third break point for Popyrin, the Pole missed with a backhand again and was broken. The Australian won the next game confidently – without losing a point and was happy with the victory. He had sixteen more winners in the match (47-31).
This is the Australian's first semi-final in an ATP 1000 tournament.
Popyrin will face American Sebastian Korda (USA, 18th ATP) in the semifinals, who defeated Alexander Zverev (Germany, 4th ATP) in a three-set match 7:6 (7:5), 1:6, 6:4.