World number one Daniil Medvedev routed in Halle Open final by Hubert Hurkacz
Hubert Hurkacz beat world number one Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-1 in emphatic style on Sunday afternoon to claim the Halle Open crown.
Hurkacz, who had failed to break his opponent’s serve in both of his previous two matches, against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Nick Kyrgios, got off to the faster start, going up a double break to start the match.
And after taking the first set 6-1, Hurkacz continued to impress, breaking the Russian’s serve to start the second set.
It was at this point that the World Number One’s coach, Gilles Cervara, left the stadium, after Medvedev appeared to shout towards his player box.
The Russian did appear to stabilise after the incident, but was unable to gain a foothold in the Pole’s service games, eventually succumbing to the world number 12 in 1 hour and 3 minutes.
By reaching the championship match in Halle, Medvedev had achieved back-to-back grass court finals for the first time in his career.
Despite his grass-court success in 2022, Daniil Medvedev, who regained his spot at the top of the men’s rankings on Monday, will not be competing at Wimbledon.
Russian and Belarussian have been banned by the All England Club in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Medvedev had lost his previous final in ‘s-Hertogenbosch last week to Dutch wildcard Tim van Rijthoven.
The result in Halle now marks the fifth final in a row that the Russian has lost, a record dating back to the Paris Masters in November of last year.
Hurkacz, who will participate in the third Grand Slam of the year, has pedigree on the grass, having beaten both Medvedev and Federer en route to the Wimbledon semi-finals last year.
“[The victory] gives me a lot of confidence,” Hurkacz said after the match. “Obviously the grass is something special and I’m super excited to be playing Wimbledon.”
The Pole is now projected to rise to number ten in the world on Monday and will be aiming to make an impact when Wimbledon gets underway in just over a week’s time.
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