Hubert Hurkacz pulled off the most impressive series of performances on the clay court in his career. Dropping merely one set, the Pole found himself in the finals of the Millennium Estoril Open 2024. Eventually, Hurkacz defeated Pedro Martinez to win the 8th ATP title of his career on Sunday.
Despite having a tough history of subpar results on clay court surfaces, Hubert Hurkacz defied all odds as he defeated Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-4 in a dominant 87-minute clash. Apart from pocketing the $95,000 prize money, the 27-year-old also won a tour-level title on clay for the first time.
Hurkacz has also become the latest player to join an elite club of sorts with at least one tour-level title on each of the four surfaces – hard, grass, indoor hard courts, and clay. Novak Djokovic is the highest ranked amongst active players to achieve this feat, while Roger Federer did the same before the Serb and both went on to become legends of the sport. Same is the case with Rafael Nadal, who did win an indoors hard court title early in his career, way back in 2005 in Madrid, despite the surface notoriously being his Achilles heel for the remaining part of his career.
Amongst other active players, Danill Medvedev achieved the same feat as Hubert Hurkacz last year by winning the Rome Masters 2023 title.
Hubi has a total of four title wins – Winston-Salem Open 2019, Delray Beach Open 2021, Miami Open 2021, and Shanghai Masters 2023 – on the hard court, two titles – Moselle Open 2021 and Rotterdam Open 2023, the Halle Open 2022 (grass), and the clay courts of Estoril Open 2024.
Hubert, the Polish man to win a clay court title in more than four decades, was understandably elated. Reflecting on his performance, the World No.10 seemed to be quite satisfied:
“I’m so happy with my performance today,” said Hurkacz, per ATP Tour. “I’m proud that I found my serve and that definitely helped me a lot. Pedro is such a great competitor, an amazing battle last night. I needed to play really great tennis to compete with him and fortunately I did it.”
The win at Portugal will certainly be a huge morale booster for Hurkacz as he hopes to make a deep run in the Monte-Carlo Masters 2024.
Who does Hubert Hurkacz play in the Monte Carlo Masters 2024?
Hubert Hurkacz is set to begin the Monte Carlo Masters 2024 with his first-round tie being set up against Great Britain’s Jack Draper. Following the win, Hurkacz could then face Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in the second-round encounter.
Hurkacz’s potential road to the final could be the following –
Round 3 – Casper Ruud
Quarterfinals – Carlos Alcaraz
Semifinals – Novak Djokovic
Finals – Jannik Sinner/Daniil Medvedev
