Alcaraz returns to Hurkacz and painfully advance to the quarterfinals

Eliminated in the second round on Canadian soil last year, Alcaraz will face the winner of the crossover between American Tommy Paul and Marcus Giron, last year’s executioner in this tournament, in the quarterfinals this Friday. The man from El Palmar currently holds a 49-4 record (ATP best on both records) with six titles this year in 2023.

Hurkacz and Alcaraz, world No. 17 and close to bewildering tonight, have only faced each other once: in the Masters 1,000 semifinals in Miami in 2022, where the Spaniards won.

Following this tournament in Toronto, Alcaraz will continue his training on hard courts across North America and face the Cincinnati Masters 1,000 next week before heading to New York to defend his US Open crown.

Another Spaniard will be in the Toronto neighborhood: Alexander DavidovicHe will play against American Mackenzie McDonald in the semi-finals, who beat Norway’s Casper Ruud on Thursday.

lack of rhythm

As in his first game in Toronto on Wednesday (6-3 vs 7-6 against American Ben Shelton), Alcaraz sinned for no rhythm tonight and consistency in his tennis is something to be expected after the hiatus after Wimbledon, outside of the Hopman Cup. Alcaraz started accumulating mistakes practically from the start and conceded a ‘time out’ on the first serve turn, which left Pole very confident and strong with his serve in favor of 0-3 in less than ten meeting minutes.

Murcian started warming up slowly, improving his forehand stroke and gaining some confidence in his play from the bottom of the court. But Hurkacz, 1.96 m tall and last year’s finalist of this tournament (he lost to Spaniard Pablo Carreño), showed no weakness in a very solid first set, clearing two ‘break’ balls by 1-3 and Put on the post to score the first set 3-6 at 32 minutes.

After the first set of seven mandatory errors, Alcaraz started the second set with doubts and mistakes against a Hurkacz who was beginning to believe he could score a multi-carat victory in Toronto. At the opening of the second set, the Poles fearlessly climbed into the net to break the Spaniard’s serve, but Alcaraz backed the ‘time out’ in reaction and then took the lead by winning the match (2-1). He was still not one hundred percent, as he replaced moments of disappointment with moments of great courage and fantastic tennis. But Alcaraz tied that second set against a Hurkacz who no longer looked so insurmountable on his first serve.

While Murcian lost two break balls 3-2 in his favor, his opponent could not break his serve and the set went to a tie break. That’s when, in a moment of greatest tension, Alcaraz’s wonderful catalog of combining forehands and drop shots with great aplomb finally shined. The second set was a big “let’s go!” We close with and force a third set.

Hurkacz’s resistance, which took advantage of the wasted opportunities in the second set, seemed to end here and fell significantly. On the other hand, Alcaraz had grown as if a great weight had been lifted from him, stepped on the gas with his right hand and broke his opponent’s serve twice (5-2), with the machine park now at full capacity. However, the curves weren’t over for the Spaniard, who wasted two match points and accepted two ‘timeouts’ in a row as everything else served the win (5-5) in their favour. Back in the pain lane, Alcaraz had to regain his best forehand to force the ‘tie break’, and after countless minutes of cold sweat, he was finally able to lift his arms and breathe a sigh of relief. finish the fifth game score.