Tennis lovers were in awe in the last two days, and rightly so. In Saturday’s semi-final of the Swiss Indoors Basel (ATP 500), France’s Ugo Humbert and Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz produced an incredible spectacle. On Sunday, the Pole played another entertaining match in the final against the defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime. This time, Hubi could not get the better of his opponents and lost in two tie-breaks (7-6; 7:6).
On Saturday afternoon, Hurkacz was facing Humbert for a place in the final. The first set was tight, with both players neutralising each other until 2-2. That is when a very long game was played, which allowed Hurkacz to finally break and stay ahead (6-4). In the second set, it was Humbert who took the game to his advantage and equalised (3-6).
The third set turned out to be a world-class show. At 5-3, it looked as if Hubi had done the most difficult. However, his opponent unexpectedly broke and came back to 5-5, before forcing a tie-break. There, it’s finally the Polish giant who had the last word (7-5), after over two hours and thirty minutes.
Then came Sunday and the final, which opposed Hurkacz to Canada’s Auger-Aliassime. Both men pushed each other to a decider in the first set, which turned to the advantage of the latter. In the second set’s decider, the scenario repeated itself but in a slightly more painful way for the Polish player, who at 5-4 was two points away from equalising at one set all.
Eventually, Hurkacz did not lift his first trophy in Switzerland, but still achieved a good result in his chase for contending in the ATP Finals. In order to maximise his chances of doing so, he even added one additional tournament (the ATP 250 Moselle Open in Metz) to his already busy calendar in these last months of the 2023 season.
The ATP Finals is the last big tournament of every season, gathering the 8 best-ranked players in the world. The only time Hurkacz participated in it was back in 2021 when he was eliminated in the group stage. Wednesday’s victory will allow him to join the top 10 for the first time this year.
Five players are already qualified for this year’s ATP Finals, namely Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Janick Sinner, and Andrey Rublov. Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune are likely to join this list in the upcoming weeks. Hurkacz’s direct rivals for a place in Turin are Casper Ruud, Alexander Zverev, and Taylor Fritz.
Image: X (@Tennis TV)
Author: Sébastien Meuwissen
