Hubert Hurkacz recorded his 40th tour-level win of the season on Tuesday when he moved past Serbian Dusan Lajovic 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the second round on his debut at the Swiss Indoors Basel.
The 26-year-old fired 18 aces, won 80 per cent (41/51) of his first-serve points and broke Lajovic’s serve three times to become the first Polish man to earn 40 tour-level wins in consecutive years since Wojtek Fibak in 1981-82.
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With his victory, Hurkacz has boosted his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. The Pole is currently 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 300 points behind Holger Rune, who occupies the final qualification spot in eighth.
Earlier this month Hurkacz moved himself into qualification contention for the prestigious year-end event when he won his second ATP Masters 1000 crown in Shanghai, gaining 1,000 points.
Aiming to close the gap to those above him this week at the ATP 500 event in Basel, Hurkacz will next play German Jan-Lennard Struff.
A touch of brilliance at the net: Part 2️⃣
Guess that’s one way to save a break point @HubertHurkacz 🤷♂️#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/CiFb1SsyFi
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 24, 2023
Alex de Minaur is also aiming to compete at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 12-19th November. The Australian increased his slim chances with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Diego Schwartzman to improve to 3-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
De Minaur, who also defeated Schwartzman in Tokyo last week, is 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 190 points behind 11th-placed Hurkacz. The 24-year-old could rise to 10th this week if he wins his second title of the season and his direct rivals fall early.
De Minaur next plays Tallon Griekspoor after the Dutchman beat Brazilian lucky loser Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3.
Earlier, #NextGenATP Swiss Dominic Stricker maintained his impressive form on home soil when he defeated qualifier Benjamin Hassan 7-6(2), 6-2.
The 21-year-old owns a 5-1 record in first-round tour-level matches in Switzerland, having defeated Maxime Cressy in his opening match at the ATP 500 last year. He will next meet second seed Casper Ruud or Antwerp champion Alexander Bublik.
Stricker, who advanced to the fourth round at the US Open, is up one place to seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah. The lefty is trying to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the second consecutive year, after reaching the semi-finals in 2022.