Hubert Hurkacz continues to play in the ATP Masters 1000 competition on clay courts in Madrid. In the third round, the Pole defeated Daniel Altmaier in two sets. The German caused our tennis player a lot of problems.
Rafał Smoliński
April 28, 2024, 16:22
Getty Images / Clive Brunskill / In the photo: Hubert Hurkacz The eighth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz welcomed the Madrid clay with a confident victory over the British Jack Draper. On Sunday, his opponent was Daniel Altmaier, who is currently 61st in the ATP rankings. After an hour and 44 minutes, the Pole won against the German 6:4, 7:6 (2).
Hurkacz started the match strongly. He confidently kept the serve, and by putting pressure on the return, he broke the score to 2-0. However, there was no confirmation of this advantage. In the third game, the representative of our western neighbors made a break point and “Hubi”‘s error at the net allowed him to quickly make up for the loss.
From then on, the game evened out. The fans gathered at Stadium 3 watched a lot of the fight. The men often played longer rallies, which included many interesting shots. In the second phase of the set, both had their chances and it was extremely important to keep their cool.
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Hurkacz was in danger twice. However, both in the seventh and ninth games he reacted very well. With a break point for the German, he moved forward to score a point with a drive-volley. Altmaier was also in trouble twice. In the eighth game, our representative helped him and the score was 4. After the change of ends, the Pole won the set ball. Now he didn’t wait any longer and forced his opponent to make a mistake with a series of forehand shots.
But winning the premiere slightly lulled the 27-year-old from Wrocław’s vigilance. At the beginning of the second part of the match, Hurkacz made some unforced errors. Altmaier performed better in the rallies and broke through after the Pole’s broken forehand. Our tennis player quickly equalized the score at 1, but before the change of ends he lost his serve again. This time, the German kept the serve and went up 3:1.
Just when it seemed that the 25-year-old born in Kempen would follow suit, there was an unexpected twist. In the sixth game, when the score was 40-15 for Altmaier, the Wrocław player made a great return, which turned out to be a signal to attack. The German did not score any points and lost his serve. Hurkacz immediately caught his rhythm and after confidently winning the serve, he took the lead for the first time in the set (4:3).
However, Altmaier did not intend to give up. Although he was two balls away from defeat in the tenth and twelfth games, he did not hold back his hand and kept the pass. Ultimately, the winner was decided by a tie-break. In this game, Hurkacz won the exchange in great style and took the lead 4-2. After the change of ends, the German broke his forehand and found himself against the wall. The Pole immediately scored four match points. In the first round, he ended the fight with a smash.
After a two-set match, Hurkacz defeated Altmaier on clay for the second time. He previously did this in the second round of the Poznań Open 2019 challenger. In Madrid, the Pole sent seven aces, finished 26 balls and had 23 unforced errors. The German served one ace and recorded 17 winning shots and 25 errors. The men played 149 points, of which 82 were won by our representative.
The victorious Hurkacz advanced to the 1/8 finals of the Mutua Madrid Open 2024 tournament. On Tuesday, his opponent will be the 12th seeded American Taylor Fritz (ATP 13).
Mutua Madrid OpenMadrid (Spain)
ATP Masters 1000, clay court, prize pool of EUR 7.877 million
Sunday, April 28
3rd round of singles play:
Hubert Hurkacz (Poland, 8) – Daniel Altmaier (Germany) 6:4, 7:6(2)
Program and results of the men’s tournament
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