Polish 22-year-old player Hubert Hurkacz upset Kei Nishikori 7-5 5-7 6-2 after two hours and three minutes at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships to reach the first ATP quarter final of his career.
Hurkacz’s win was a big surprise especially because Nishikori had won 12 of his 14 matches in 2019 and had never lost before the quarter finals in all the tournaments he played in this year. Hurkacz had not won a match on the ATP Tour this year.
Hurkacz hit 31 winners to 30 unforced errors compared to Nishikori’s ratio of 23 winners to 32 unforced errors.
Nishikori held his first four service games at love and broke serve for the first time in the match in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead, when Hurkacz sent a backhand long. Hurkacz broke straight back in the 10th game after Nishikori made a forced error. The Polish player earned another break in the 12th game to close out the first set 7-5, when Nishikori netted a forehand.
Nishikori went up a double break to build up a 4-0 lead in the second set and served out for the set at 5-2. He did not convert four set points and dropped his serve after a backhand error.
Nishikori was broken at love, as he was serving for the second set after Hurkacz hit a forehand crosscourt winner. The Japanese player broke serve for the third time in the 11th game, when Hurkacz sent a forehand long. Nishikori hit a smash winner to hold his serve at 15 on his sixth set point setting up a third set.
Hurkacz broke serve in the fourth game at 15 in the third set with a backhand down the line and got another break in the seventh game to build up a 5-2 lead, when Nishikori was serving to stay in the match. The Pole sealed the win in the next game, when Nishikori sent his forehand beyond the baseline. Hurkacz secured his spot in the quarter final against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who eased past Egor Gerasimov 6-3 6-1 in just 57 minutes.
“It’s a huge win for me because it’s my first top 10 win. Maybe I was better prepared mentally for this battle today. It gives me huge confidence. I was trying to fight for every point. Kei is an unbelievable player. I had a good serve. That gave me some opportunities to attack after the serve, also win a couple of easy points. Against such a player it’s important to have some free points. The match was up and down. I am very happy with the win”,said Hurkacz.
This year’s Rotterdam champion Gael Monfils cruised past 2016 Dubai finalist Marcos Baghdatis 6-3 6-2 after 65 minutes setting up a quarter final against Ricardas Berankis, who beat Denis Kudla 6-4 6-1.
Baghdatis got the first break of the match on his third chance in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. Monfils broke straight back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. The French player broke again in the eighth game and served out the first set 6-3 at love. He saved a break point in the fourth game before breaking twice in the fifth and seventh game to to wrap up 6-2. Monfils scored his seventh consecutive win.
Monfils has enjoyed a great start to his season winning the final in Rotterdam against Stan Wawrinka and reaching the semifinal in Sofia. Earlier this week the Frenchman beat Marin Cilic.
“It was windy today. It was not comfortable. I was struggling a little bit to actually hit the ball heavy. It was tougher for me to be aggressive. I went a little bit for the back and tried to shape my ball a little bit more, be patient, push him, focus on the key points with my serve”, said Monfils.
Nikoloz Basilashvili came back from one set down to beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 6-3. Basilashvili fired 19 aces and converted four of his nine break points. After losing the first set at the tie-break Basilashvili went up a break in the third game. Bautista Agut broke back in the eighth game to draw level to 4-4, but Basilashvili broke again in the ninth game to win the second set 6-4. Bautista Agut saved three break points in the first game of the third set, but Basilashvili broke twice in in the fifth and ninth games to close out the third set 6-3.
