Jaume Munar beat Hubert Hurkacz twice when the two were juniors, in 2014, defeating the Pole in straight sets each time. But in their first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting on Wednesday at the prestigious Next Gen ATP Finals, Hurkacz turned the tide.
The sixth seed battled past Munar 4-2, 4-2, 2-4, 3-4(5), 4-1 to move to 1-1 in Group A play. Hurkacz will face top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Thursday in the final day of round-robin action.
Hurkacz has spoken throughout the week about how he feels his biggest weapon is his serve. And that showed in the first two sets, as the 21-year-old just lost a combined two first-serve points in the first two sets, doing especially well when going after his backhand.
But Hurkacz did not step into the court in the third set, ultimately allowing Munar to battle his way back into the match by competing and playing his physical brand of tennis, pumping himself up after each key point. And after dropping the third set, Hurkacz’s coach, Rene Moller, told his charge via their headsets to get more aggressive.
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“Look, let’s get back to basics here and hit the reset button and let’s get focused. Two things for you: you’re letting him get away with chipping way too many forehand returns right now, so I’ve got to see you use the serve and volley on that side. Every forehand return is a chip, yeah? So let’s use that and let’s be a little more imposing with your forehand,” Moller said. “There are a lot of mid-court forehands that you’re letting him get away with. Step up and rip those and take charge and take control of the situation.”
The Wroclaw native did just that in the fourth set, sneaking into net more often, where he showed good feel, and generally hitting out to a greater extent off the forehand side. While Hurkacz did make errors off that wing, he did keep Munar back. But the Spaniard managed to claw through the tie-break to force a decider.
Hurkacz bounced back, however, breaking early in the fifth set and overcoming four straight break points from 0/40 at 2-1, eventually triumphing after two hours and four minutes. It continues a strong season for Hurkacz, as he has broken through in a major way in 2018. The Pole began the year at No. 238 in the ATP Rankings, but he won his first two ATP Challenger Tour titles and tallied a 28-12 record at that level to aid in cracking the Top 100 for the first time. Currently World No. 85, Hurkacz is the top-ranked player from Poland.
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