Daily Times

TORONTO: World number one Carlos Alcaraz produced a thrilling comeback to beat Hubert Hurkacz 3-6 7-6(2) 7-6(3) on Thursday and reach the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open as the Wimbledon champion continues to refine his game ahead of the upcoming U.S. Open. The swashbuckling Spaniard got off to a nightmare start as Hurkacz jumped out to a 3-0 first set lead in just six minutes en route to capturing the first set. Trouble mounted further for Alcaraz when he was broken at the start the second but he broke back for 1-1 and from there began to pick up the pace on his forehand while the Pole’s serving cooled off.

Alcaraz dominated the second set tiebreak and appeared in complete control when he whipped a sensational crosscourt forehand winner for a 5-2 lead in the decider that brought the Toronto crowd to their feet. But the natural showman got a little too cute in the next game, attempting back-to-back drop shots on match points that landed in the net and he was ultimately broken. Hurkacz began to find his form again, breaking at love for 5-5 and holding to take a 6-5 advantage. But there would be no escape from Alcaraz in the third set breaker where Hurkacz tightened up and committed some costly errors including a forehand that sailed long to deliver Alcaraz his 14th straight win.

Up next for Alcaraz is a quarter-final with one of two Americans — Tommy Paul or Marcos Giron. Soon after the conclusion of the match, Scot Andy Murray announced that he had to pull out of his round of 16 match against Italy’s Jannik Sinner with an abdominal injury.

Fokina topples Ruud: Earlier, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina battled back from a third set deficit to beat Casper Ruud 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) and deny the third seed a place in the Canadian Open quarter-finals. Up next for Davidovich Fokina is American Mackenzie McDonald, who reached his first quarter-final of a Masters 1000 tournament by dispatching Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3 6-3. Australia’s Alex De Minaur beat eighth seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(7) 4-6 6-1 in a topsy-turvy battle to reach the quarters of a Masters 1000 tournament for his first time.. De Minaur will next face a familiar foe in the quarter-final in the form of second seed Daniil Medvedev, who cruised past Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-4. Medvedev holds a 4-1 lead in head-to-head matchups with De Minaur.