The Pole Hubert Hurkacz secured the Shanghai Tennis Masters title with an extremely narrow victory against the Russian Andrej Rublew.
Hubert Hurkacz won the second Masters title of his career in Shanghai. The 26-year-old defeated Andrei Rublew 6:3, 3:6, 7:6 (10:8) in a dramatic final on Sunday (October 15, 2023), fending off a match point.
With the victory, Hurkacz can hope to qualify for the season finale of the eight best tennis professionals (from November 13th). In the race to Turin he moved up to eleventh place. In 2021, Hurkacz played in Miami for the first time in one of the nine 1,000 tournaments, the largest tennis events below the Grand Slams, triumphs. For his success in Shanghai he received $1.26 million in prize money.
Zverev in Tokyo
Rublew missed out on his second Masters title after winning in Monte Carlo in the spring. He has to settle for $662,360. Despite the defeat, he is unlikely to be able to qualify for Turin.
Alexander Zverev had already failed at his opening hurdle after a bye in the first round at the top Chinese tournament, which was canceled for three years due to the corona pandemic. The Hamburger lost to the Russian Roman Safiullin 3:6, 1:6 and missed the chance to collect points for the Turin qualification.
On Monday, Zverev will hit Tokyo, where he won the 2021 Olympic gold medal. He will face Australian Jordan Thompson at the Ariake Coliseum.