AN intriguing battle was fought at the Delray Beach Open final, with Hubert Hurkacz and Sebastian Korda locking horns and Hurkacz eventually reigning supreme in 71 minutes, 6-3 6-3. While Korda got off to the perfect start, breaking Hurkacz’s service game and capitalising on his own serves, it did not take long for the double faults to start piling up with Korda’s 3-1 start eventually seeing Hurkacz steal away momentum.

While Korda fought hard, the stats did not lie with the American winning 61 per cent of his first serve points compared to Hurkacz’s 71 per cent, while the Polish 23-year-old also piled on the pressure to win an overall 39 per cent of first serve points on return, and an excellent 59 per cent off the second serve. 

With four aces to Korda’s one and zero double faults, Hurkacz limited his error rate to command much of the match. While Korda piled on the pressure once more to start the second set, holding serve until 2-2, Hurkacz was quicker to break Korda’s service game to take an early lead at 4-2 to run away with the 6-3 6-3 victory.

The first Polish champion at Delray Beach, Hurkacz’s excellent form during the week all led up to this, not dropping a set throughout the tournament and able to continue that impressive feat against a hungry Korda. Delray Beach is Hurkacz’s second title, with Korda in his maiden ATP Tour final. While Korda could not maintain his early intensity, the 20-year-old proved he is more than capable of piling on the pressure.

“The way [Korda] is playing, it will be amazing what he can achieve in the future,” Hurkacz said post-match. “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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DELRAY BEACH OPEN FINAL RESULT:

[4] Hubert Hurkacz (POL) defeated Sebastian Korda (USA) 6-3 6-3

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