Alcaraz Holds Off Hurkacz, Murray Withdraws; QFs Fri In Toronto

Carlos Alcaraz ran his win streak to 14 straight Thursday night edging 2022 finalist Hurbert Hurkacz 3-6, 7-6(7-2), 7-6(7-3) to reach the Canadian Open Toronto quarterfinals.

The 20-year-old Spaniard still wasn’t at his best, but rallied after dropping the first set then recovered after blowing a 5-2, double-break lead in the third to play yet another excellent breaker.

Alcaraz has now won his last six tiebreakers and improves to 9-1 in deciding set breakers.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what happened,” Alcaraz told the ATP about losing his lead. “I started feeling bad at that moment. I couldn’t feel the right way in my shots. I didn’t know what happened. But what I was thinking was to stay calm, try to find a way to overcome the problems and find the good feeling again. I think at 5-6 serving, I started to feel better.

“The big players have that feeling to find a way to stay alive and try to end the match playing well.”

Tomorrow, the Spaniard will face the man who beat him last year in Montreal, Tommy Paul. Paul ousted countryman and qualifier Marcos Giron 6-3, 6-2.

Alcaraz did beat Paul in their most recent contest in Miami this year.

Andy Murray was scheduled to meet Jannik Sinner after the Alcaraz finished, but the 3-time champion in Canada took to the court to announce that he had to withdraw due to a ab injury.

“I have an issue with my abdominal so unfortunately I’m not going to be able to play this evening. I’m really sorry,” said Murray to the crowd. “I feel like I’ve let you down. I’ve rarely been in this situation in my career and I feel terrible.

“I had a very similar issue last year in Stuttgart before Wimbledon, which forced me to miss the Queen’s Club tournament. “I was able to play Wimbledon. It took me about 10-12 days before I was feeling good again.

“This is not as bad as that but obviously the danger if you compete and play is you could make it worse. I’ll need to see how it develops over the coming days and hopefully feel better in a few days.”

Murray is still entered in Cincinnati — which has its draw tomorrow — and is hoping to grab a US Open seeding, but he’ll need to play next week to have a chance.

Sinner will now face Gael Monfils who advanced over 27-year-old Atlanta finalist Aleksandar Vukic 6-4, 6-4. Sinner leads 3-1 against the Frenchmen.

Former winner Daniil Medvedev continued to impress rolling past Lorenzo Musetti 6-4, 6-4.

Medvedev broke in the seventh game of both sets to secure the win in this first-time meeting. Musetti falls to 2-10 against Top 5 players.

Next for the Russian will be Australia’s Alex De Minaur who ran away from Taylor Fritz 7-6(9-7), 4-6, 6-1. Fritz led 5-1 in the first and also had two set points, but the Australian advances to his very first Masters quarterfinals.

”It feels great to finally break that barrier,” De Minaur said of his best Masters. “It’s just a never-say-die attitude. It doesn’t matter what the score is. I’m always going to fight till the end. Being able to compete and stay positive got me into the match. I knew even if I lost that set I’d be in the match and playing a lot better.”

Medvedev has won four of five tour-level head-to-head encounters when facing De Minaur but dropped their most recent clash last fall at the Paris Indoors.

Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina upset 3rd-seeded Casper Ruud in a thriller 7-6(7-4), 4-6, 7-6(7-4). He’ll now get the surprising Mackenzie McDonald for a spot in the semifinals of a Masters. McDonald knocked out the returning Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3, 6-3.

Ruud broke to start the third but failed to serve it out at 5-4, and it cost him.

FRIDAY TORONTO CANADIAN OPEN MASTERS SCHEDULE
CENTER COURT
Matches Start At: 12:30 pm
Mackenzie MCDONALD (USA) vs Alejandro DAVIDOVICH FOKINA (ESP)
Alex DE MINAUR (AUS) vs Daniil MEDVEDEV [2]

Not Before 7:00 pm
Carlos ALCARAZ (ESP) [1] vs Tommy PAUL (USA) [12]
[PR] Gael MONFILS (FRA) vs Jannik SINNER (ITA) [7]