Grass season is Hurkacz season: The defending champion at the TERRA WORTMANN OPEN knows that, but he had a unexpectedly hard time against Christopher Eubanks, the US-American qualifier. A break to 4:3 in the first set and all seemed to go as planned. But in a nerve racking tiebreak the American fended off four match points in the second and won 13:11. Eubanks increased tremendously and served in a dominant way, same as Hurkacz always does. But the qualifier delivered variations came up by the net again and again and played superior volleys.
In the third set, however, Hurkacz adjusted the conditions again with a quick break and triumphed 6:4, 6:7 (11), 6:3 - after 22 aces and 7 matchpoints. He played one of his best tournaments ever last year in Halle. He swept the then world’s number one, Daniil Medvedev, off the court. He had defeated the later Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals
And there is no doubt that Hubert Hurkacz is also a candidate for the finals at the OWL arena 2023, too. Grass season is just Hurkacz season. He reached the semi-finals in Wimbledon and thus achieved his final breakthrough in 2021. And that was also the case in Stuttgart in the week before Halle, when he reached the semi-finals.
Furthermore the current tennis year is quite a mixed bag for the man who was in the top 10 last year. Currently he is down to no. 17. Only the tournament victory in the smaller event of Marseille stands out in his balance.
Next opponent is Tallon Griekspoor from the Netherlands who beat Roberto Caballes Baena in straight sets in his kick-off match. He also will know, Grass season is Hurkacz season. However, Griekspoort won the grass tournament in s’Hertogenbosch. Not such a bad recommendation.
