Since Hubert Hurkacz turned pro in 2018, he has been actively improving on his game to rely less on tie-breaks. Hubert won his first title at the Winston-Salem ATP 250 and has now joined the likes of Carlos Alcaraz to reach at least one Masters 1000 title every year since 2021.
Not only that, after clinching the Shanghai Masters to defeat Andrey Rublev, Hubert joins Novak Djokovic in the list of players to save a match point in an ATP Tour.
Hubert Hurkacz joins Novak Djokovic on elite list winning the Shanghai Masters
Hubert Hurkacz earned his second Masters 1000 title with a thrilling victory against Andrey Rublev, as he triumphed 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (10-8). The victory saw Hurkacz join Novak Djokovic on the elite list when he saved one championship point in the Shanghai final.
It was the second consecutive ATP Masters 1000 event at which the champion saved match point during his title run, after Novak Djokovic did so in Cincinnati against Carlos Alcaraz. Djokovic had saved a championship point against Alcaraz in the final of the Cincinnati Open. The three-hour, 49-minute clash was one of the best matches of 2023.
Hubert Hurkacz and Novak Djokovic are now the only two players in 2023 to save a match point proceeding to an ATP Tour title in two separate tournaments.
The first time Hubert saved a match point was in February at the Open 13 Provence in Marseille. He saved a match point in the quarter-finals against Mikael Ymer and did not lose a set the rest of the week.
Novak Djokovic saved a match point in his first tournament of the season, the Adelaide International 1. Djokovic had lost the first set in the final before rallying for victory against Sebastian Korda. Novak Djokovic saved another championship point against Alcaraz in the final of the Cincinnati.
Eight times in 2023 a champion has triumphed after saving match point en route to the title. On six of those occasions, the champion saved match point in the final.
The victory in Shanghai will see Hubert move up six places to No 11 in the new ATP rankings and the Polish star has also revealed that he is ready for Tokyo this week to compete in the Japan Open Championships while Novak Djokovic prepares for the ATP Final in Turin, a tournament he has already qualified for.
How many Shanghai Masters has Novak Djokovic won?
Novak Djokovic is the most successful player at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The 24-Grand Slam winner won the tournament in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018, a record no other player has achieved. Besides, Novak Djokovic’s performances has helped him earn an estimated $5,955,470 in Shanghai.
Although Djokovic missed this year’s tournament due to schedule, many believe that the Serbian in no more motivated by money but on titles in this latter stage of his career.
Novak Djokovic has often used the Shanghai Masters as a tournament to promote the increase in prize money for those unseeded players facing early exits across all events. The total prize money for the 2023 Rolex Shanghai Masters was US$8,800,000 and Huber Hurkacz earned US$1,262,220, while players who exited in the first-round took home US$18,660.
