Shanghai, (Asian independent) Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz captured his second ATP Masters 1000 title by defeating fifth seed Andrey Rublev of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(8) here on Sunday.
Nearly two years ago, Hurkacz got his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Miami in 2021.
“It’s the final of the Masters Series, and we both have match points in the tiebreaker. We’re just battling, and we both have some chances, so definitely it was just so exciting and super pumped at the end of the battle and win that last point,” said Hurkacz, who posed consistent performance and fired 21 aces throughout the final.
Rublev also gave nice comments to his opponent.
“I don’t need to be impressed with his level because I know that he is a super great player and it’s so tough to beat him, and I knew this since the beginning.”
“We played four times with each other and with him, you can easily lose only the way he serves. As we could see today he was serving unreal. The way he sometimes shoots from baseline, full power, so tough to do something.”
After the match, Hurkacz wrote “thank you” in Chinese on the camera to show his appreciation, which caused a buzz on social media in China.
“I was just trying to memorize how to write it, and it’s a difficult language. I just wanted to give thanks for the amazing support that I had throughout the whole almost two weeks here and to thank the Chinese fans,” Hurkacz said.
