Polish tennis player Hubert Hurkacz, who is one of the most improved players this year on the ATP tour, managed to bag yet another tour title under his belt as he defeated Pablo Carreno Busta in straight sets in the finals of ATP Moselle Open.
Hurkacz had to defeat the likes of Andy Murray, Lucas Pouille, and others before claiming his third title of the year. Also, the Polish star managed to reach his first-ever semi-finals at a slam by defeating former world no.1 Roger Federer in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon.
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Along with the victory, Hurkacz managed to bagel the Swiss Maestro on Center Court, which was a phenomenon that took place for the first time in Federer’s incredible Wimbledon history. The victory also ensured Hurkacz a career best ranking of no.11.
Earlier this year, the Pole won the first Masters title of his career at Miami after stunning the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Milos Raonic, and Denis Shapovalov.
Even though the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal didn’t play the event, Hurkacz proved his merit with back-to-back victories over top-10 players.
Hubert Hurkacz joins elite tennis stars in unique record on ATP tour this year
Coming to the Moselle Open, the Polish star joined a unique list of players after clinching the victory in the final. Hurkacz joins Djokovic, Medvedev, Ruud, and Zverev as the player who won three or more ATP titles this year.
Players with three or more ATP titles in 2021…
• Novak Djokovic 4
• Daniil Medvedev 4
• Casper Ruud 4
• Alexander Zverev 4
• HUBERT HURKACZ 3 👏— Tennis Majors (@Tennis_Majors) September 26, 2021
All the players present in the list produced top-notch performances so far in this year. While Djokovic looked in amazing form till the US Open, even a young talent like Casper Ruud managed to win four tour-level titles(Geneva, Stockholm, Gstaad, and Austrian Open).
These four titles put Ruud right on the tenth position in the updated ATP singles rankings. Along with Hurkacz, he has been producing consistent results on tour and the duo are certainly more than capable of making it big in the coming few years.
Coming to Djokovic and Medvedev, the Serb managed to win three major titles this year and came close to winning his fourth slam. But, his amazing run was snapped by Medvedve, who recorded his first major title in New York.
Apart from those three majors, Djokovic managed to win one more ATP title on his home soil(Belgrade-2). When compared to Djokovic, the Russian had a slow start to this year but picked up the pace post the European clay season.
Medvedev won events in Mallorca and Montreal before the US Open crown. Earlier this year, the no.2 player won the indoor hard-court event in Marseille.
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With the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas stepping up big this year in majors, there will be enough motivation for players like Hubert Hurkacz, Casper Ruud, Jannik Sinner, and others to take the stride forward and produce their best tennis during slams next year.