SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON, October 15, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)
Hubert Hurkacz has developed his game largely around his booming first serve. It is a potent and reliable weapon that has served him well all season long, especially in China this week at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, the penultimate Masters 1000 event on the ATP Tour this season.
While the World No. 17 Hurkacz’s first serves often set up the rest of the point, they also allow the friendly Polish star to be aggressive on his returns. Just ask his opponent on the other side of the net for the Shanghai final, World No. 7 Andrey Rublev.
“Hubi is [such a] tough player. He’s really tough to play against,” Rublev said on Saturday after defeating No. 18 seed Grigor Dimitrov, one of four seeds he dispatched to reach the title final. “He has really good strokes from [the] baseline. He has good feeling. He moves well, really well, especially for his height. He really has a good defensive game. The serve, one of the best serves on Tour, makes him a really, really tough player that you need to be all the time super focused.”
On Sunday, in the Shanghai championship match at Qi Zhong Tennis Center — and with Roger Federer, a pretty good server in his day, watching from court side — Hurkacz’s booming serve got him out of trouble, especially during the decisive third-set tie-break, when he served back-to-back aces while trailing 5-2. He finished with 21 aces, won 81 percent (57 of 70) of his first-serve points and beat Rublev, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8), in two hours and six minutes to win his second career Masters 1000 title following his earlier success at Miami in 2021.
TWO TIME MASTERS 1000 CHAMPION! 🏆
The moment @HubertHurkacz clinched the 2023 #RolexShanghaiMasters and a SECOND career Masters 1000 title pic.twitter.com/L4zSXiwtbw
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 15, 2023
“It was such a battle,” the 26-year-old Hurkacz said in a court side interview after securing his second Top-10 victory of the season and 39th win overall. “Especially emotionally. I had a match point and Andrey hit an amazing serve and then he had a match point and then I had some match points. It was back and forth and such a tricky match. Andrey was playing some great shots. I was trying to respond. It was one of those matches and I kept believing and I am super happy with how I managed at the end.”
Hurkacz wrapped up the 31-minute opening set with a flourish by hitting his seventh ace and 13th winner. Looking unstoppable, the Polish star dropped just two points on his first serve and with a break of Rublev in the sixth game it was full steam ahead in their fifth career meeting.
24 BRUTAL Shots! 😳@AndreyRublev97 turning up the heat in the second set!#RolexShanghaiMasters
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 15, 2023
However, Rublev fought back. He rallied at the beginning of the second set and sandwiched a break of Hurkacz in between a pair of service holds to quickly grab a 3-0 lead. The Russian went on to hit 16 winners and won three of four net exchanges to send the match to a decider — familiar territory for Hurkacz — after an hour and two minutes.
In the third set, Rublev saved a match point at 4-5 and, soon, lead 5-2 in the decisive tie-break. However, Hurkacz wasn’t ready to quit. Instead, he fired consecutive aces and took advantage of a forced error by Rublev to level matters at 5-all. Hurkacz saved a match point at 5-6, then finally won on his fourth match-point chance — after Rublev netted a return that quashed a 17-shot rally — to garner his biggest win of the season. Hurkacz had now beaten Rublev, 25, three times.
“It is such a big tournament and so much tradition,” Hurkacz said. “It is a huge event and I am really happy now.”
XIE XIE! 🤗@HubertHurkacz #RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/3RpbFRnKXW
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 15, 2023
Later, in his victory news conference, Hurkacz was asked if it was the most exciting finish of a match he’s ever played. He replied: “I think so. I definitely think so. It’s the finals of a Masters Series, and we both have match points in the tiebreaker. We’re just battling, you know, we both have some chances. So, definitely, it was just so exciting. I was super pumped at the end to battle and win that last point.”
The victory lifted Hurkacz into 11th place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 335 points behind eighth place Holger Rune of Denmark. Hurkacz is attempting to qualify for the year-end finale for the second straight year. Meanwhile, Rublev, who hadn’t dropped a set before the final, was in pursuit of his second career Masters 1000 crown after winning in Monte-Carlo in April. He is in fifth place for a berth in the eight-player Nitto ATP Finals.
Sealed With A Kiss! 😘@HubertHurkacz#RolexShanghaiMasters pic.twitter.com/it0Q5UBJWj
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 15, 2023
Granollers and Zeballos win fifth Masters 1000 title together
Seventh-seeded Spanish-Argentine duo Marcel Granollers and Horatio Zeballos won their fifth ATP Masters 1000 title and the first of this season with a comeback 5-7, 6-2, 10-7 victory over India’s Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden of Australia at the Rolex Shanghai Masters Sunday afternoon.
After reaching the final without dropping a set, Granollers and Zeballos found themselves having to comeback after losing the opening set against the fourth seeds. Then, they jumped ahead 4-0 in the second set and went on to capture the 84-minute victory on their third championship point.
Doubles Delight! 🤗@HoracioZeballos & @M_Granollers clinch the #RolexShanghaiMasters doubles title with a 5-7 6-2 10-7 win over Bopanna & Ebden!
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 15, 2023
It was the team’s 33rd triumph of the 2023 season and solidified their position in fourth place in the Race To Turin for the Nitto ATP Finals next month, while Bopanna and Ebden qualified for Turin by watching the Shanghai final.
“We were playing against a great team,” said Zeballos, whose team has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals in each of the last three years. “They were serving very well, doing great stuff but I think the most important thing was to stay confident and keep talking.At the end we were playing really good tennis.”
Granollers added: “We have been working really hard this year to finally get the trophy. We played great all week and have been for the past months. Everything came together.”
Masters 1000 Title No. 5! 🏆@MarcGranollers @HoracioZeballos #RolexShanghaiMasters
— Rolex Shanghai Masters (@SH_RolexMasters) October 15, 2023
In addition to winning the Shanghai title, Granollers and Zeballos have also won Masters 1000 crowns at Montreal in 2019, Rome in 2020, Madrid in 2021 and Cincinnati in 2021. This was their eighth title overall and first since winning at Halle in 2022.
By the numbers
Hubert Hurkacz came into Sunday’s Rolex Shanghai Masters final having hit 872 aces this year, the most on the ATP Tour. Through his first five matches, he had hit at least 12 aces in each of his wins — and on Sunday he struck 21 to give him 893 for the year. Hurkacz is attempting to become the first player to hit 1,000 aces in a season since Americans John Isner (1,032) and Reilly Opelka (1,014) accomplished the fete in 2019.
“Quotable …”
“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. We’re just going to try our best and then just keep fighting and keep competing.”
— Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, during his victory news conference after winning his second career Masters 1000 title.
