ATP Metz: Kohlschreiber shears at Monfils, Hurkacz fixes a duel with Murray
Hubert Hurkacz made the dream quarter-finals in Metz perfect: The Pole will meet Andy Murray on Friday. For Philipp Kohlschreiber, on the other hand, Thursday was against Gael Monfils .
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Sep 23, 2021, 07:53 pm
Hubert Hurkacz's 2021 season is a roller coaster ride of emotions. Big career milestones - such as the triumph at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami or the entry into the semi-finals at Wimbledon - were always followed by inexplicable defeats, early eliminations and disappointing performances for the young Pole this calendar year. This was also the case most recently at the US Open, where the 24-year-old completely surprisingly had to admit defeat to Andreas Seppi in round two.
A defeat that Hurkacz seems to have at least digested well, in his first appearance since the last Grand Slam of the year, the Pole has now got off to a good start. In the first round, "Hubi" still benefited from a bye, in round two of the ATP 250 event in Metz, the 24-year-old defeated local hero Lucas Pouille in two sets on Thursday. A victory that now makes for an extremely explosive duel, Hurkacz meets in the quarter-finals against former world number one Andy Murray, who is getting better and better towards the end of the year.
Kohlschreiber fails because of Monfils
In any case, there is no unsolvable task waiting for the winner of this quarter-finals in the semifinals: With Peter Gojowczyk (victory over Karen Khachanov) and Marcos Giron (victory over Alex de Minaur) two surprise men have played their way into the second quarter-finals of the upper tableau.
The working day on Thursday was less successful for Philipp Kohlschreiber than for compatriot Gojowczyk. Germany's veteran gave the favored French Gael Monfils a brave fight, but ended up losing out with 6: 7 (2) and 4: 6. Monfils is now waiting for the winner of the last knockout round of the day between Nikoloz Basilashvili and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Holger Rune and Pablo Carreno Busta made it to the quarter-finals on the lower half of the draw on Wednesday.