Canadian Open 2023: Carlos Alcaraz Survives Closely-Fought Encounter Against Hubert Hurkacz, Enters Quarterfinal
Top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain overcame a slow start and a dramatic ending to beat 15th seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland and reached the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open.
Toronto, August 11 : Top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain overcame a slow start and a dramatic ending to beat 15th seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland and reached the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open. The Spaniard rallied past Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3) to extend his winning streak to 14 matches on Thursday night. Canadian Open 2023: Carlos Alcaraz Beats Ben Shelton in Toronto Opener.
Aiming for his seventh title of the season, Alcaraz improved to 2-0 in his ATP Head-to-Head series with Hurkacz and now boasts a 49-4 season record. He will next play 12th seed Tommy Paul, who upset the Spaniard last year in Montreal.
Alcaraz struggled to find his best level early, committing unforced forehand errors as the Pole won the first three games of the match for the loss of just three points to take the opening set. Despite being broken in the opening game of the second set, Alcaraz stayed focused and found greater consistency in extended rallies as Hurkacz's first-serve percentage dropped from 69 per cent to 48. Canadian Open 2023: Madison Keys Holds Off Venus Williams in Opener; Jennifer Brady Beats Jelena Ostapenko.
In the final set, the Spaniard built on that momentum and raced away to a 5-2 lead before Hurkacz dug deep and refused to go quietly. He erased not one, but two breaks of service against him and the set remarkably went yet again to a tiebreak. Alcaraz is making his Toronto debut this week and is hoping for his third ATP Masters 1000 title of the year after winning in Indian Wells and Madrid.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 11, 2023 04:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).