Hurkacz Fends Off Korda To Take Delray Beach Title
13-Jan-2021 21:28:00 | ATP World Tour
Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz sealed his Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com debut with a trophy after defeating #NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda in the final on Wednesday.
Hurkacz, No. 35 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, came into South Florida going for his second ATP Tour title and his first since the 2019 Winston-Salem Open. The Pole didn’t drop a set all week, and needed just 68 minutes to claim the victory 6-3, 6-3 over 20-year-old Korda.
“I was trying to focus on [the] things that I should do and to stay aggressive, because Sebastian is never going to hand me the match,” Hurkacz said. “Sometimes It’s even tougher when your opponent is not feeling 100 per cent well. He’s trying to focus on what he can do, and he can serve big and hit big shots from the baseline. So it was crucial for me to stay aggressive and get an advantage there.”
Korda scored victories over No. 95 Soonwoo Kwon, No. 52 Tommy Paul, No. 25 John Isner and No. 74 Cameron Norrie to reach his first ATP Tour final. He powered to an early lead against Hurkacz, dealing damage with his backhand to claim a break of serve in the first game of the match.
“The way [Korda] is playing, it will be amazing what he can achieve in the future,” Hurkacz acknowledged. “It’s too bad that he wasn’t 100 per cent fit today, but his game is there. I’m sure he’ll be holding many trophies in the future.”
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But the American, who previously dropped his first eight finals as a pro before last year’s ATP Challenger Tour breakthrough in Eckental, couldn’t maintain the level as Hurkacz capitalised on an error-prone stretch to make his way back. From 1-3 down, Hurkacz came back to win five games in a row to take the opening set.
Hurkacz stayed comfortably in control in the second set as Korda’s struggles continued. The Pole broke twice more, claiming the match with a lob winner to become the first Polish champion to reign at Delray Beach.
“It feels great,” Hurkacz said. “It’s the beginning of the season and I still need to work on a couple of things, but I hope I can play even better in Australia.”
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