Miami (AFP)
The Polish Hubert Hurkacz won to everyone's surprise the first Masters 1000 of his career in Miami, beating Sunday 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 the Italian Jannik Sinner in an unexpected final.
At 24, he won the third ATP tournament of his career after those of Winston-Salem (North Carolina) in 2019 and Delray Beach (Florida) at the start of the year, which will allow him to make a jump of 21 places in the next world ranking where it will drop from 37th to 16th place.
But this trophy is undoubtedly the most prestigious, in a tournament category just below the Grand Slams.
Especially since to pave the way to this victory, he first brought down two of the favorites, the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th in the world) and the Russian Andrey Rublev (8th), before defeating Sinner, one of his friends. and occasional doubles partners he had never faced before.
Facing the Italian, youngest finalist at 19 years and 6 months in the history of the tournament, ahead of Novak Djokovic and Andre Agassi who had been crowned them, he proved to be the most solid mentally.
He got off to the best start, snatching his opponent's serve, appeared slightly stressed given the context to lead 3-0.
Having the favor of the public dotted in the stands, Sinner came back to height by being more aggressive in the exchanges.
The two players could not convert other break points and it was in the decisive game that Hurkacz was able to escape, taking advantage of his opponent's tension to complete the round in 59 minutes.
- "So happy" -
The robust Pole (1.96 m) escaped in the second set.
Led 4-0, after a rain of unforced errors, Sinner then again let go of the blows, the good ones, and came back to 4-3, winning 11 points from the last 12 points.
But Hurkacz, who then multiplied unforced errors, was able to tighten his game and especially shorten it by going up to the net.
A winning and profitable tactic.
He could raise his arms after 1:43.
"I'm so happy," said the winner, who also fell during the tournament for two other "top 20", Milos Raonic and Denis Shapovalov, who said he was "very nervous when Jannik started hitting again very strong and committed his comeback in the second set ".
"I am so happy that I was able to prevent it from succeeding," he added, relieved and happy.
This victory throws the native of Wroclaw, former finalist of the doubles juniors at the Australian Open and turned professional at 18, in another dimension and more concretely from next week in the top 20 with which Sinner will flirt, who will drop from 31st to 22nd worldwide.
Hurcakz is not the most famous of the members of the first "Next Gen", unlike Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev.
But with Sinner, 19, and Sebastian Korda, 20, embodying the second wave, they have groomed the pawn of the ambitious top 10 in Miami.
None, nor the best ranked among them, Daniil Medevedev (world No.2), released in quarter by a veteran this time, Roberto Bautista, has been able to assume a status of favorite in the absence of the cadors Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem.
Hurkacz and Sinner were well aware of the opportunity and seized it.
"We knew we could go far," they said just before facing each other in the final.
© 2021 AFP