On Sunday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Hubert Hurkacz put on one of the best performances of the 2022 grass season so far, dismantling World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev in the championship match to capture his first title of the year.
The fifth seed broke Medvedev three times en route to a 6-1, 6-4 victory on grass, which gave him his first tour-level prize. On OWL Arena, the 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist was imperious behind his serve and powerful from the baseline as he cruised to his first ATP 500 title in 63 minutes.
Hurkacz will move up two spots at No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings after winning his fifth tour-level event. He joins Carlos Alcaraz, the current World No. 7, as the seventh player in the Open Era to win his first five tour-level championship matches.
For the second week in a row, Medvedev was in a grass-court final. The World No. 1 struggled to find his top level throughout the title match, just as he did against Tim Van Rijthoven in's-Hertogenbosch a week ago. Medvedev is now 0-3 in tour-level finals in 2022, and he's still looking for his first triumph since winning the US Open in September.
Hurkacz had gone through his quarter-final against Felix Auger-Aliassime and semi-final against Nick Kyrgios without breaking serve once, but he broke twice in the title match to sprint to a 5-0 lead early. The fifth seed continued to be aggressive with his groundstrokes, just missing a couple of times as he limited his opponent's opportunities to dictate points. Hurkacz won eight games, including five aces in the first game, to take the lead.
As Hurkacz broke again in the first game of the second set, Medvedev's impatience began to show, and despite raising his level on serve, the World No. 1 was unable to have any impression on the powerful Hurkacz delivery. The early break proved enough for the Pole to seal a comprehensive victory having won 84 per cent (32/38) of points behind his first serve in the match and without facing a break point.
The win moves Hurkacz into a 3-2 lead in his ATP Head2Head series with Medvedev. The 25-year-old also won the pair’s only previous meeting this season, in the quarter-finals of the Miami Open presented by Itau in March.