The world number one, who has won his last two tournaments in a row (Queens and Wimbledon), accumulates with this 14 victories in a row (not counting the Hopman Cup). Alcaraz, who lost in the second round on Canadian soil last year, will face this Friday in the quarter-finals the winner of the cross between the Americans Tommy Paul – his executioner last year in this tournament – and Marcus Giron. The El Palmar man is now 49-4 in 2024 with six titles this year (ATP’s best in both records).

Hurkacz, world number 17 and who was very close to surprising this evening, and Alcaraz had met only once until this Friday: in the semi-finals of the Miami Masters 1000 2022, where the Spaniard had imposed.

initial problems

After this tournament in Toronto, Alcaraz will continue his hard training in North America and will face the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati next week before traveling to New York to defend his crown at the US Open. And in the neighborhoods of Toronto there will also be another Spaniard: Alexander Davidovichwho beat the Norwegian Casper Ruud on Thursday and will play a place in the semi-finals against the American Mackenzie McDonald.

As on his debut on Wednesday in Toronto (6-3, 7-6 against American Ben Shelton), Alcaraz sinned tonight lack of rhythm and consistency in his tennis, something to be expected after his post-Wimbledon break except for the Hopman Cup. Alcaraz started accumulating unforced errors almost from the start and conceded the ‘break’ on his first round of service, which left the Pole, very sure and powerful with his serve, with 0-3 in his favor in less than ten minutes of meeting.

The Murcian warmed up little by little, improving with his forehand and gaining some confidence in his game from the back of the pitch. But Hurkacz, with a height of 1.96 and a finalist in this tournament last year (he lost to Spaniard Pablo Carreño), showed no weakness in a very solid first set, solved two balls from ” break” with 1-3 and put the lead one to score the first inning for 3-6 in 32 mins.

Errors and Rules of Hurkacz

After a first set of seven unforced errors, Alcaraz also entered the second with doubts and fouls against a Hurkacz who was beginning to believe he could seal a multi-carat victory in Toronto. The Pole fearlessly got into the net to break the Spaniard’s serve at the opener of the second set, but Alcaraz reacted by returning the “break” and then winning the game to take the lead (2-1 ).

He still wasn’t one hundred percent, as he alternated moments of frustration with splendid moments of courage and fantastic tennis. But Alcaraz equalized in this second set against a Hurkacz who no longer seemed so insurmountable with his first serve. The Murcian lost two “break” points with 3-2 in his favor and his rival could not break his serve either, so the set went to a “tie break”. It was then, at the time of the greatest tension, that the great catalog of Alcaraz finally shone, combining forehand and drop shots with great aplomb to close the second set with thunder.Go on!” and force a third set.

reborn

Hurkacz’ resistance seemed to end there, as he blamed wasted chances in the second set and fell significantly. Alcaraz, on the other hand, completely grew as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, he pressed the accelerator with his right and, now with his machines at full capacity, he broke his rival’s serve twice (5-2). However, the curves did not stop for the Spaniard, who lost two match points and conceded two consecutive “breaks” on serve to win with everything in his favor (5-5).

Back in the hall of suffering, Alcaraz had to recover his best right hand to force the ‘decisive game’ and, after an evening of countless moments of cold sweat, he was finally able to raise his arms and breathe easily as he finished his fifth match point.