Hurkacz beats Korda for Delray Beach ATP title
MIAMI: Fourth-seeded Hubert Hurkacz claimed the second ATP title of his career Wednesday with a straight-sets victory over Sebastian Korda in the final at Delray Beach, Florida.
The 23-year-old from Poland, ranked 35th in the world, needed just 68 minutes to overcome Korda 6-3, 6-3, completing his run to the title without dropping a set.
Korda, 20 and ranked 119th in the world, was playing in his first ATP final, his Delray run highlighted by a quarter-final win over second-seeded fellow American John Isner.
The former junior world number one, son of former Australian Open winner Petr Korda, got off to a hot start, racing to a 3-1 lead.
But Hurkacz won five games in a row to take the first set and broke twice in the second.
Hurkacz sealed the win on his first match point with a lob that dropped just inside the baseline to give him a second title to go with his 2019 Winston-Salem triumph.
While in ANTALYA, Turkey, Australia's Alex de Minaur claimed his fourth career title on Wednesday when Alexander Bublik quit the Antalya Open final after just two games.
The fourth-seeded De Minaur led the eighth seed 2-0 in the first set when his Kazakh opponent retired due to a right ankle injury he suffered in his semi-final.
"I knew I'd put in a great preseason. I felt good and ready to compete," said 21-year-old De Minaur.
"I gave myself the best possible chance to go deep in this tournament."
De Minaur, whose previous titles came in 2019 at Sydney, Atlanta and Zhuhai, now heads to Melbourne for the Australian Open which starts on February 8.
"I'm looking forward to returning to Australia, where I hope to have a good Aussie summer in front of a home crowd," the world number 23 added. - AFP