Hurkacz Marches On In Metz Title Defence

Second seed Hubert Hurkacz stepped up his title defence at the Moselle Open with a dominant quarter-final win on Friday.

After dropping seven games in his opening match against Dominic Thiem, the Pole was even more efficient in a 6-3, 6-2 victory against France’s Arthur Rinderknech in the Metz quarter-finals. The defending champion needed just over an hour to secure victory, saving the only break point against him at 1-2 in the second set before he won the final five games of the match, including the last 14 points in a row.

Hurkacz has dropped one place to No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week, but can move ahead of Jannik Sinner and back into the Top 10 by reaching the Metz final. He can also overtake Alexander Zverev for eighth place in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin by retaining his title.

Hurkacz will face Lorenzo Sonego in Saturday’s semi-finals. The Italian has won all six sets he’s played this week, including his 6-4, 6-4 victory against Sebastian Korda on Friday.

In the evening, Stan Wawrinka advanced the the semis with his third three-set win of the week. After downing top seed Daniil Medvedev in three on Thursday, the Swiss earned a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) victory against Sweden’s Mikael Ymer. Wawrinka surrendered an early break in the final set but regrouped to claim the tie-break, taking its final two points from 5/5.

He will next face seventh seed Alexander Bublik, who closed Friday’s play with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 win against fourth seed Holger Rune. Bublik lost the second set after leading 5-3, then saved a break point early in the third before claiming the decisive break to lead 3-2. Attempting to serve out the match for the second time, he battled through deuce to claim victory on his second match point.