Alcaraz didn’t even have a quiet game on his first appearance in Toronto. First it was against an aggressive Ben Shelton and today against a listless Hubert Hurkacz (17th place), who mastered the game perfectly. If he could be patient with the American, he lived to the limit before the Pole from beginning to end. Alcaraz is a rollercoaster of emotions that decided to win and came back from the game twice. After losing a first set with no rhythm and advancing with violence in the second, the Spaniard was already celebrating a calm third set as he recovered from a 5-2 lead and turned into a 5-6 deficit that surprised even Hurckacz himself. The Spaniard does everything: he starts badly, fights and comes back only to make himself come back later, row again and get a game that had it all. Nobody told Alcaraz that securing his number one status at the US Open would be easy, but the young tennis player likes a challenge and is hoping for the quarter-finals, in the early hours of Friday-Saturday, not before 1: 12:00 a.m. in the Movistar+ , his executioner last year: the American Tommy Paul (14th in the ranking).
The Song of the Exorcist played on Toronto’s central court as the two tennis players warmed up, a prelude to the nightmare that would be suffered by the Murcian, who came back cold and stopped allowing Hurkacz to break him on his first serve of the game. He hadn’t quite found himself yet and the Pole didn’t give him a break. With no option for the rest, the Murcian had no choice but to activate to enter a game already trailing 3-0. As a result, the Spaniard switched chips, started picking up pace and his previously missing right side began to respond to him, although the Slav didn’t flinch, remaining impassive on his first serve.
While Alcaraz found the solution the night before by bringing in the balls Shelton missed, the key for Hurkacz was to move him from side to side and extend exchanges at the back of the pitch. But the Pole doesn’t seem to put any effort into hitting the ball as if that weren’t the case with him. Therein lies his virtue, because no one expects him beyond his serve and it turns out this isn’t his only shot, Federer already proved it in his last match on Center Court at Wimbledon and it’s not for nothing that he’s number ninth become the world.
Alcaraz seemed to have woken up from the short and tumultuous start, although the current No. 17 ranked continued to do his thing on serve, winning 80% of the points on the first serve. The Murcian’s adjustment to the Toronto court took longer than expected, but Hurkacz reckoned with no one and won the first set 6-3 in 33 minutes.
He tried to restart in the second Alcaraz, he wanted to do it seriously and he tried, but mistakes kept happening. Strange about him because he couldn’t hit well and brace himself properly, as if his mind had no connection to his body. And Hurkacz, who remained calm before the opportunities Carlitos gave him and, like in the first set, broke on the Spaniard’s first serve. The match could have ended earlier than expected with this break, but not even Hurkacz himself believed that it was decided, especially not against a tennis player who only grew by leaps and bounds and through various “Let’s go!” When he was sovereign on the bench acted, he reacted quickly and broke the Pole’s serve for the first time.
Every game with Hurkacz’s serves was a new chance for Alcaraz, who didn’t fully commit to it. “Think a little!” , the Spaniard, between the transitions where he vented his roar and in places where he kept cooling off during collisions, in front of a blank wall that continued to make the comeback to El Palmar difficult , followed at half throttle, blamed himself.
The sluggishness of the game led to a tie break in the second set. But if Alcaraz excels at one thing, it’s that when he’s not at his best and nearing the abyss, he brings out his natural competitiveness; a champion character meaning that when the game predicts a negative outcome, it moves as if saving the best for last. In this way he begins to connect with his shots and manages to win the second set against a surprised Hurkacz who, without realizing it, went from the match in which he wanted to a decisive set against an Alcaraz has become, which is already in his living space.
From victory to the border to tragedy
The spark was ignited and Alcaraz looked set to stay. Firmer and more confident, controlling the situation and growing in Hurkacz’s service, he broke the game in the fourth game of the third set. From there, the Spaniard’s mood and game only grew, the drop shots coming in and the rights flowing. While the Pole, touched and without ideas, lost his breath more and more until he reached a 5:2 that seemed final. Even Hurkacz himself was already in the dressing room when the ghosts of the first set reappeared in Alcaraz. The knockdown and blockade returned, gripping the Murcian, who had two match points in a game that appeared seemingly over and now had to serve to avoid leaving the Canadian tournament.
Unexpectedly, it all happened again through a tie break, which was a prize for the Pole and a penalty for the Spaniard. Given the unpredictability that reigned throughout the game, Alcaraz said enough was enough, enforcing the logic that didn’t come up in the final games of the third set and eventually downing a resilient Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6 (2) and 7 yielded. 6 (3). “I don’t know what happened to me. The only thing I tried was to stay calm until I regained consciousness,” said the Murcian at the foot of the track, who managed to continue his best consecutive win streak (14) and that upon arrival in Toronto He recalled that “there is always room for improvement”. No one can doubt that the world number one continues to improve and grow, by knowing how to resist, by knowing how to suffer.
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