Zhizhen Zhang, ranked 57 in the world, held strong in a three set match to snatch the victory from 11th ranked Hubert Hurkacz. Both men share the distinction of being record holders in their respective countries, China and Poland. Zhang is the first Chinese player to break into the Pepperstone ATP top 100, to reach a quarter finals of an ATP Masters 1000, the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament and a gold medal at the Asian games. Hurkacz is the highest ranking Polish man in tennis singles history having won 7 ATP titles including the Shanghai Masters twice against todays opponent. In their most recent match Hurkacz won 6-7, 6-4, 6-7. Today the tables turned in favor or Zhang who took the victory after a 3 set match winning in the final tie break 7-4.

Zhang showed his determination by taking an immediate break to lead 2-0 in the first set. Hurkacz took the opportunity to break back when Zhang did a double fault to give his opponent 40-0 which eventually Hurkacz converted leveling off at 3-3. The next three games were all hotly contested deuce games with a break for Hurkacz at 5-3 and the 1st set was finished by a decisive Hurkacz.

Zhang had a shaky start to the 2nd set with which gave Hurkacz the early break which he consolidated on serve for a lead of 2-0. However a persistent Zhang fought back and get the break back at 3-3. A more confident Zhang went more frequently to the net, applying pressure on his opponent who resisted at 4-3 but finally fell to the mounting pressure from Zhang to eventually concede the set at 4-6.

The 3rd set saw two determined players vying for the win. However a badly executed tweener on return of serve by Hurkacz, roused up the first hint of frustration as he slammed the ball into the net. Hurkacz failed to convert a break opportunity at 3-3 but still went on to level at 4-4. At 6-5 on serve for Zhang, Hurkacz showed a greater sense of urgency with a series of serve and volleys, taking the ball on the return high in the air to put the shots away to level 6-6 for the tie break.

Zhang set the tone for the tie break with an ace on the first point. Despite a concerted push to distance himself from Hurkacz at 4-0, Hurkacz reasserts himself and took Zhang’s serve return early putting himself on the scoreboard. A challenge requested by Zhang gives him the 5-1 lead but Hurkacz persisted with powerful serving and a perfect lob to recover at 5-4. A controversial challenge goes against Hurkacz from which he did not regain his composure and Zhang won the tie break 7-4. This is a very disappointing result for Hurkacz who has missed an opportunity to move up from his 11th place position the Nitto ATP Finals.

In the ensuing press conference, a very understanding Zhang commented that Hurkacz was undoubtedly tired after winning the Shanghai Masters 1000 and that he didn’t have much time to recover from tough matches there. Still he felt that he did much better by trying a different combination of shots on the baseline.

The only distinction in the match statistics was Zhang’s ace performance double that of Hurkacz even though Hurkacz had a slight advantage on 1st serve success. When it comes to defense, Zhang staved off Hurkacz’s attack by saving 67% potential break points. Zhang’s more aggressive play style showed through his higher 56% 2nd serve return points won against Hukacz.