Hurkacz Looks To Turin Following Shanghai Triumph

Hubert Hurkacz has his eyes on the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

The Pole captured his second ATP Masters 1000 title on Sunday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters and has now climbed to 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 335 points behind Holger Rune, who currently occupies the all-important eighth spot.

“Coming to this couple of weeks starting here in Shanghai I knew I [had] to give myself a chance, I need to be winning tournaments, so that’s a pretty good start,” Hurkacz said of his Turin hopes. “I mean, just an amazing week here in Shanghai. I really enjoyed it here with the team, but ultimately, we just want to get better every single day and improve, enjoy those moments, but we’re just going to try our best and then just keep fighting and keep competing.”

The 26-year-old, who competed at the prestigious year-end event in 2021, battled hard against Andrey Rublev in Sunday’s final, saving one match point en route to his seventh tour-level crown. Hurkacz holds a 7-1 record in tour-level finals.

“Andrey was playing some really good tennis, and I knew I had to produce the shots, so I was just trying to stay out there and compete as hard as I could and to keep positive self-talk and then keep the belief until the end,” Hurkacz said. “At the end of the day, it’s a final, and you want to just give it all you got out there.”

Watching the final in the stands was two-time champion Roger Federer. Hurkacz is pleased to have joined the Swiss legend as a title winner in Shanghai.

“There’s so many champions who won it in the past and so many amazing players and in my speech I was trying to thank everyone. I forgot to mention Roger, thanks for coming. Hopefully, he won’t take it personally,” Hurkacz said, cracking a smile. “But definitely fun to play in front of him. Hopefully he enjoyed it a little bit.”

Hurkacz now holds a 39-20 record on the season. He captured his maiden Masters 1000 title in Miami in 2021.