Dimitrov beats Hurkacz in controversial deciding set tiebreak

Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, the No 11 seed, edged out Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 8 seed, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) to move into the last eight of the Miami Masters at the Hard Rock Stadium on Tuesday night.

With the win, Dimitrov now moves to 5-0 against Hurkacz, and is 6-0 in his last six deciding set tiebreaks, dating back to May 2023 in Geneva. He also now sits 12th in the live ATP rankings, drawing within 265 points of the top 10.

Despite Dimitrov’s brilliance, this match will be remembered for a controversial moment in the third set tiebreak, where Hurkacz was ruled to have touched the net.

Hurkacz net ruling dominates deciding tiebreak

Locked at 2-2 in the deciding tiebreaker, this was anyone’s game. Off the back of a powerful serve up the tee which Dimitrov could only barely get a racquet to, Hurkacz rushed into the net to finish off with a straight-forward volley.

As Hurkacz volleyed, he slid and touched the net with his left foot. Despite hitting the volley for a simple winner, the chair umpire intervened, calling the point for Dimitrov because of the infraction.

Hurkacz was incensed, immediately smashing his racquet – a rare occurrence for the mild-mannered Pole – and demanding to see a video replay of the touch. The umpire declared he was “100 percent confident” that Hurkacz had touched the net, and did not permit a replay.

From 2-2, Hurkacz lost five of the next six points to lose the tiebreaker 7-3. Speaking after the match, the world No 9 was contrite about the incident.

“Grigor had hit a little bit of an unconventional return. I hit a good second serve and yeah, I was just trying to get to the ball and I slid,” said Hurkacz. “My coach told me after the match – because I was just sliding and I didn’t feel anything – but my coach told me that I touched the net at the end. So yeah, just a bit unfortunate.”

“I couldn’t feel anything because I was just sliding, so I wanted to see a replay,” explained Hurkacz. “But anyway, I tried to move on and keep playing, but Grigor came up with some good shots.”

When asked if he thinks video reviews should be introduced for these kinds of instances, Hurkacz was humble in his response, saying, “Well anyway, the umpire was right, so it doesn’t matter.”

Dimitrov, ranked No 12, will face Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, the top seed, next.

The Bulgarian beat Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2) and German Yannick Hanfmann (6-1, 6-0) ahead of his victory.

In the previous rounds of the Miami Open, Hurkacz, ranked No 9, won against Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko (6-4, 6-7 (2), 6-3) and American Sebastian Korda, the No 28 seed (7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3).

Miami Masters 1000, other last 16 results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 10.404.205, most recent results first):

• Alexander Zverev vs. Karen Khachanov
• Alex De Minaur vs. Fabian Marozsan
• Carlos Alcaraz beat Lorenzo Musetti (23): 6-3, 6-3
• Jannik Sinner (2) beat Christopher O’Connell: 6-4, 6-3
• Nicolas Jarry (22) beat Casper Ruud (7): 7-6 (3), 6-3
• Daniil Medvedev (3) beat Dominik Koepfer: 7-6 (5), 6-0
• Tomas Machac beat Matteo Arnaldi: 6-3, 6-3

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