Tennis News

Hurkacz Halts Harrison To Reach Delray Beach Final

Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz ended qualifier Christian Harrison’s fairytale run with a straight sets victory on Tuesday to take the first spot in the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com final.

The 23-year-old from Poland has not lost a set all week, showing the quality that took him to the Winston-Salem Open title back in 2019. Hurkacz edged past 7-6(4), 6-4 in an hour 34 minutes against Harrison, the American ranked No. 789 in the FedEx ATP Rankings after undergoing eight surgeries throughout a snake-bitten career.

“Very happy to win this match today,” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview. “I mean, Christian played pretty amazing throughout the whole tournament. He qualified here and had his best results on the ATP Tour. Especially after all he came through, all the surgeries, it’s really great for him. He played a really amazing match.”

Harrison was playing his eighth match in Delray Beach after fighting past the qualifying rounds and reaching the semi-finals in both singles and doubles. Coming into the match against Hurkacz, the American had spent nearly 11 hours on court this week, compared to two and a half for his opponent. But he showed no signs of fatigue as he kept pace with the Polish player in a serve-dominated opening set.

There was just one break point on offer across the first 12 games: on Harrison’s serve in the second game of the contest. Hurkacz and Harrison marched steadily into tie-break, where the Polish player finally broke through after winning a few inch-perfect baseline battles.

“I didn’t have many opportunities in the first set,” Hurkacz said. “Then it came to a tiebreaker, and he started really well but then I won these really long rallies. That helped me and helped me get some momentum, so that was really crucial for the second set.”

Even as the damp conditions paused play momentarily, Hurkacz returned just as focused as he took advantage of a dip in Harrison’s serve to claim the first break of the match for a 4-3 lead. Harrison raised his level to respond with a break straight back, but the 26-year-old couldn’t maintain it as Hurkacz broke to love before taking the match 7-6(4), 6-4 to seal his spot in the final.

He awaits the winner of Cameron Norrie and Sebastian Korda, who are both looking to claim their first ATP Tour title in Delray Beach.

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Brown, Stakhovsky & Troicki On Brink Of Australian Open Qualification

Three ATP Tour veterans — Dustin Brown, Sergiy Stakhovsky and Viktor Troicki — all stand one victory away from qualifying for the Australian Open. The qualifying competition is being held in Doha due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brown, 36, who is bidding to compete in the main draw for the first time in three years, struck eight aces and won 80 per cent of his first-service points to beat No. 22 seed Carlos Taberner 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday. He will next play Maxime Cressy, who fired 21 aces to overcome Yannick Maden 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Stakhovsky, 36, who last played in the main draw in 2016, recovered from 1-5 down in the first set to beat Jason Kubler 7-6(4), 6-4 and now plays another Australian, Dane Sweeny, in the final qualifying round on Wednesday.

Troicki, a month shy of his 35th birthday, knocked out Ulises Blanch 7-5, 6-3. The Serbian, who reached the third round of the Australian Open in 2011 and 2015-17, will next face No. 11 seed Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, who defeated Rinky Hijikata 6-4, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, former World No. 17 Bernard Tomic saved one match point at 4-5, 30/40 in the deciding set to edge past Tristan Schoolkate in a final 10-point tie-break, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(3). He will next challenge his fellow Australian, John-Patrick Smith, who beat Tallon Griekspoor 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Former World No. 23 Damir Dzumhur, who competed in the main draw third round in 2014 and 2018, defeated Julian Lenz 6-2, 6-2 and the seventh seed now meets Kimmer Coppejans.

Fifth seed Taro Daniel was a 6-3, 6-4 victor over Maximilian Marterer and now plays Elias Ymer, who defeated No. 27 seed Marc-Andrea Huesler 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Robin Haase also overcame Gian Marco Moroni 6-4, 7-5 and now plays Quentin Halys in the final qualifying round.

Carlos Alcaraz bounced back from a slow start in both sets to beat Evgeny Karlovskiy 7-6(1), 7-6(4). He will next face second seed Hugo Dellien, who beat Andrew Harris 6-4, 7-6(6). Michael Mmoh saved two match points at 4-5 in the third set to scrape past Zhe Li 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7) and he now prepares to face Arthur Rinderknech.

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Mektic/Pavic Complete Debut Week With Antalya Trophy

One week into the 2021 ATP Tour season and new team Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic have captured their first team trophy.

The top-seeded Croatian team completed a dream week at the Antalya Open on Tuesday by beating second seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles final, which lasted 67 minutes.

“It’s a great start and couldn’t be any better, especially because it’s our first tournament together,” Mektic told ATPTour.com.

Pavic told ATPTour.com, “It’s always great to start the year like this as we’ve never played together before. It’s good to get a lot of matches and the goal, for me, is always to reach the [Nitto] ATP Finals, which was in London and now in Torino. It’s a good way to start.”

Mektic and Pavic threatened throughout the first set, breaking serve in the third and seventh games. The new team were unable to convert a deciding Deuce point at 1-1 in the second set, but decisively broke for a 3-2 advantage and didn’t look back.

Mektic, who partnered Wesley Koolhof to the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals crown, is now 9-8 in tour-level finals, while 27-year-old Pavic picks up his 18th trophy (18-22 record in finals).

Croatian Dodig and Slovakian Polasek are now 2-3 as a team in ATP Tour finals, having captured two crowns in 2019 at the Western & Southern Open and the China Open. Dodig and Pavic finished runner-up in September last year at the Hamburg European Open (l. to Peers/Venus).

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Bublik Bounces Back In Antalya, Now Plays De Minaur For Title

Alexander Bublik dominated on serve early on, but was ultimately forced to work hard on Tuesday for a place in the Antalya Open final.

The eighth-seeded Kazakhstani eventually beat Jeremy Chardy of France 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 in two hours and five minutes for a place in his third ATP Tour title match (also 2019 Newport and Chengdu).

After the match, Bublik admitted: “I got injured in the middle of the match and considered pulling out, but I said myself, ‘Okay, I will give it a try.’ I then served unbelievably, the best since Chengdu 2019. I served almost every serve full power and I was lucky to win the match.”

Bublik will next face fourth-seeded Australian Alex de Minaur for the first time. De Minaur overcame second seed David Goffin of Belgium earlier in the day.

Bublik led by a set and 4-2 before Chardy fought back to lead 5-4 in the second set. Chardy then held on to save two break points at 5-5 then produced a strong performance in the tie-break, which ended when Bublik struck his seventh double fault.

In the deciding set, 23-year-old Bublik saved six break points — two in the first game and four at 3-3 — before he broke Chardy for a 5-3 advantage.

Bublik recorded the second biggest win of his career on Monday by beating World No. 10 Matteo Berrettini in the Antalya quarter-finals. Chardy, 33, had been bidding to reach the fourth ATP Tour final of his career (2009 Johannesburg, 2009 Stuttgart and 2018 ‘s-Hertogenbosch).

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Australian Open: Francesca Jones into final round of qualifying

Britain’s Francesca Jones is through to the final round of Australian Open qualifying with a 7-6 (9-7) 2-6 6-1 victory over Jana Fett.

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De Minaur Beats Goffin To Reach Antalya Final

Alex de Minaur fought hard to reach his eighth ATP Tour final on Tuesday at the Antalya Open. The fourth-seeded Australian recorded his second straight win over second seed David Goffin of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in one hour and 52 minutes.

The 21-year-old De Minaur, who lifted three trophies in 2019 at Sydney, Atlanta and Zhuhai, awaits the winner of eighth-seeded Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik and Jeremy Chardy of France.

World No. 23 De Minaur broke serve immediately and ran through the 43-minute first set, losing just three of his service points. But No. 16-ranked Goffin turned the tables by winning the first three games of the second set. De Minaur broke for a 3-1 advantage in the decider, but Goffin responded only to lose the momentum.

Goffin, who is working with new coach Germain Gigounon, had been bidding to advance to his first ATP Tour final since August 2019 at the Western & Southern Open. He saved five match points to beat his doubles partner, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, in the Antalya Open first round on Thursday last week.

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Delray Beach Open: Cameron Norrie into semi-finals, world number 789 also reaches last four

British number three Cameron Norrie is through to the Delray Beach Open semi-finals after a 6-0 3-6 6-4 win over Frances Tiafoe.

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Isner Will Not Play Australian Open: 'It Wasn't An Easy Decision'

John Isner, who lost in the quarter-finals of the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com Monday evening, announced after the match that he will not compete in the Australian Open this year. The American made his decision Sunday evening.

“It wasn’t an easy decision at all,” Isner said. “I thought long and hard about it, but I feel comfortable with my decision right now and [I am] looking forward to getting home.”

Isner and his wife, Madison McKinley Isner, have two children — two-year-old Hunter Grace and one-year-old John Hobbs — whom he does not want to be away from for an extended period.

“At this stage of my career and in my life, I always had visions of being able to travel with my family. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case for Australia this year. Understandably so, I get it,” Isner said. “It really was just a situation where I didn’t want to be away from my family for that long. I decided to stay home.”

At 35, Isner wants to make his family a big part of his traveling life on the ATP Tour, but that is not possible for this trip due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon arriving in Australia, players will be mandated to serve a 14-day quarantine, before playing a lead-in event to the Australian Open, which begins 8 February.

“I told myself prior to the pandemic that we were going to travel with them as much possible and we were going to make it as much fun as possible on the road,” Isner said. “When I travel in Europe, I was going to stay at the nicest hotels and just make a really nice trip out of all of it because I won’t be playing tennis forever, there’s no doubt about it. Certainly, right now, tennis is not the most important thing in my life. It’s my family.”

The American No. 1 is the No. 25 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Although Isner will not travel to Australia, he still is working hard to add to his collection of 15 ATP Tour titles and compete on the sport’s biggest stages against the best players in the world.

“Me not going to Australia doesn’t mean that I’m not committed, because I still am,” Isner said. “I’m healthy, I feel really good and I’ll continue to take care of my body. Once the Tour gets back from Australia, I look forward to playing as full of a season as I possibly can.”

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Korda Clutch Against Isner, Reaches Delray Beach Semi-finals

Sebastian Korda has wasted no time making his mark on the ATP Tour in 2021.

The #NextGenATP American upset countryman John Isner, the second seed, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com on Monday evening to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final.

For a moment, it appeared Korda’s big moment might come undone. As the World No. 119 served for the match, Isner jumped to a 0/40 advantage. The American No. 1 broke serve once in the second set, but the three points he played to gain that advantage were some of his best of the match.

Korda did not panic, instead playing some of his best tennis to battle through Isner’s surge and triumph after one hour and 51 minutes. The former junior World No. 1 let out a massive roar on match point.

“I was super happy with how I played that whole game. I mean, he played an incredible first three points. The way he played those, I was like, ‘Too good.’ I couldn’t really do anything. He came to the net, he played big balls, he played a super good three points,” Korda said. “I just stuck with it, I got a little bit more aggressive. At the end, there was a lot of stress in that last game, so I kind of let it go [with the roar].”

Korda began the week with three tour-level wins, all of which came at Roland Garros last year. The 20-year-old in Florida has doubled that count, and now he will play 2018 champion Frances Tiafoe or Cameron Norrie for a spot in the final. Korda’s father, former World No. 2 Petr Korda, played in Delray Beach twice, but never made a quarter-final, let alone a semi-final. That’s not something “Sebi” will remind his father of any time soon.

“No, because he’s then just going to counter that and say, ‘I’ve got a Grand Slam,'” Sebi joked. “My dad is not anything like that. He’s all for me. As long as I’m happy, he’s happy.”

Isner crushed 13 aces and he battled until the end. But too often once rallies began, it was Korda controlling play and coming up with either an impressive passing shot or a key winner when he needed one.

“He’s a good player. I think tonight in particular he was just a little bit better than I was. It was sort of an uphill battle for me out there,” Isner said. “I wasn’t maybe feeling that great out there, but I competed hard and I fought hard, but he came up with the goods.”

Perhaps most impressive about Korda was his demeanour on court. Playing a grizzly veteran like Isner, against whom just a few minutes’ lapse of concentration is costly, Korda remained calm throughout to earn one of the biggest wins of his young career.

“Whenever i’m on court my head is pretty clear and I’m a super positive guy on court, so I’m always in the moment and always super positive. There are very few times you’ll see any emotion come out of me that’s negative,” Korda said. “I worked a lot on that during this break and it’s paying off right now.” 

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World No. 789 Harrison's Fairytale Run Continues In Delray Beach

Christian Harrison is living a movie script this week at the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, and the World No. 789 is just happy to be enjoying the ride.

The 26-year-old American, who has undergone eight surgeries, defeated 2020 Rio de Janeiro finalist Gianluca Mager 7-6(2), 6-4 on Monday afternoon to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final.

“It feels pretty amazing,” Harrison said on court after the match. “I’m just happy that I have everyone here, all my friends and family around that are here to support, especially here in Delray being so close to home.”

Entering the week, Harrison had just two tour-level singles wins. The qualifier has three this tournament alone, and he is also into the doubles semi-finals alongside older brother Ryan Harrison.

“I’m feeling very good. I feel fresh, still. I think a couple days off in between helped,” Harrison said. “One of the days off we only had one doubles, which was probably a good recovery anyway. Looking forward to the semis tomorrow.”

Initially, nerves appeared to be getting to Harrison in his first ATP Tour quarter-final. The home favourite hit two double faults and made two baseline errors in the first game of the match to immediately lose his serve. But Harrison never panicked, and he settled in after that.

“I just kept doing the same thing because I just played a sloppy first game of the match and got broken,” Harrison said. “Then I felt like he was playing solid the whole time, hitting a lot of good first serves, and sometimes there was nothing I could do. I had a lot of break points in the first couple games that I didn’t really get, so I honestly just tried to do the same thing.”

Harrison won 83 per cent of his first-serve points and faced just four break points in the match. Although he only converted two of his 11 break points, the American kept battling to earn more opportunities. At 2-2 in the second set, Mager double faulted a break away, and that was the only advantage Harrison needed.

The World No. 789 is the second-lowest-ranked semi-finalist in tournament history behind Juan Martin del Potro, who accomplished the feat as World No. 1,042 in 2016. This is uncharted territory for the American, who had not played a tour-level main draw since 2018 Newport.

But now, Harrison is two wins from becoming the lowest-ranked ATP Tour titlist in history (since 1990). He will next play fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz or qualifier Roberto Quiroz.

“I’m pretty even keeled right now,” Harrison said. “Just happy to keep playing and hopefully could have two solid matches tomorrow.”

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