Shanghai Masters: Hurkacz through to third-ever Masters 1000 final
The Pole will play Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 18 seed, or Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, for the title
© Andy Wong/AP/SIPA
Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 16 seed, moved into the final of the Shanghai Masters by beating American Sebastian Korda, the No 26 seed, 6-3, 6-4 at the Qi Zhong Stadium on Saturday night.
“Off the ground, I’m pretty aggressive, I’m playing well, the serve’s been helping a lot, as well. So, I think just, you know, obviously pretty happy with the improvements here and just try to keep building on it,” the Pole said afterwards, reflecting on his week.
Hurkacz, ranked No 17, will face the winner of the match between Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 18 seed, and Russian Andrey Rublev, the No 5 seed, next.
It will be his third Masters 1000 final, having won Miami in 2021 and finished as runner-up in Montreal earlier this year.
The Pole won against Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis (7-6 (5), 6-4), qualifier Yu Hsiou Hsu (6-4, 6-4), Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (7-6 (6), 4-6, 7-6 (4)) and Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (4-6, 6-1, 6-3) earlier in the tournament.
In the previous rounds of the Shanghai tournament, Korda, ranked No 26, won against Chinese wildcard Yunchaokete Bu (6-1, 6-4), Russian Daniil Medvedev, the second seed (7-6 (8), 6-2), Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, the No 20 seed (7-5, 7-6 (6)) and No 19 seed Ben Shelton (6-7 (10), 6-2, 7-6 (6)).
Shanghai Masters, other semi-final result (Qi Zhong Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000):
- Grigor Dimitrov vs. Andrey Rublev
