On Tuesday afternoon, Hubert Hurkacz was playing his opening match at the Swiss Indoors Basel (ATP 500). The Pole disposed of the Serbian Dušan Lajović in straight sets (7-6(2);6-3) in just under one hour and a half.

The end of the ATP season is approaching, and with this goes the long-awaited ATP Finals, in which the eight best-ranked players clash for one of the most prestigious trophies of the year. As of late October, Hubert Hurklacz is ranked 11th and still has a chance to qualify. One thing is sure, it is not going to be easy.

In order to maximise his chances of playing in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin,  the Pole added one additional tournament (the ATP 250 Moselle Open in Metz) to his already busy calendar in these last months of the 2023 season.

But before that, Hubi headed to Switzerland to play in Basel. The first round of the tournament against the Serbian Dušan Lajović was supposed to merely be a formality. However, despite a great start (4-1), the giant from Wrocław had to struggle in order to win the first set. Lajović came back to 4-4 and forced a tie-break. In such situation, the Pole has a significant leverage due to his dangerously effective serve. This allowed him to dominate this decider with authority by seven points to two.

The second set remained tight until 3-3 with both players winning their respective service games. Hubi’s break at 4-3 turned out to be the point of no return in this game. With his confidence boosted by the fortunate turn of events, the Silesian sealed the deal (6-3).

His next opponent will be the unpredictable German Jan-Lennard Struff, who dominated the talented American Christopher Eubanks. The match is scheduled on Wednesday at 2PM (UK time).

Hurkacz already participated once in the ATP Finals back in 2021. He was then eliminated in the group stage. Given the fact that at least one or two of the eight best-ranked players are often injured at the end of the season, the Polish champion has a genuine chance of being among the shortlisted competitors in Italy in mid-November. If, for example, one of the automatically qualified players (top 8) turns out to be injured, it is the number 9 that takes over. If another one gets injured (including when the tournament has already started), the world number 10 has the opportunity to replace him and so on.

Hubi will need to achieve some decent results to reach this goal. A first step in that direction has been made on Tuesday.

Image: X (@Hubert Hurkacz)

 Author: Sébastien Meuwissen