Dubai Open: Hurkacz edges Struff in epic

Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 3 seed, edged out German Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6) to reach the second round of the Dubai Open at the Aviation Club Tennis Centre on Monday evening.

In a match that was as tight as can get, Struff was a victim of tennis’s unique scoring system. The German won 130 points to Hurkacz’s 125, struck 46 winners to 44, won five percent more service and return points, and yet came out on the wrong side of the result.

Both men were brilliant defending break points with 100 percent success rates, but it was Hurkacz who came up trumps when it mattered, winning the third set tiebreak 8-6 to move through to the second round.

Hurkacz, ranked No 8, will face the winner of the match between German qualifier Maximilian Marterer and Australian Christopher O’Connell next.

Dubai ATP 500, other first-round results (Aviation Club Tennis Centre, hard, USD 2.941.785, most recent results first):

• Sumit Nagal vs. Lorenzo Sonego
• Daniil Medvedev vs. Alexander Shevchenko
• Jakub Mensik vs. Borna Coric
• Luca Van Assche vs. Karen Khachanov
• Lorenzo Musetti vs. Arthur Cazaux
• Maximilian Marterer vs. Christopher O’Connell
• Jiri Lehecka vs. Marton Fucsovics
• Gael Monfils vs. Ugo Humbert
• Fabian Marozsan vs. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina
• Tallon Griekspoor beat Abdullah Shelbayh (WC): 7-5, 2-0 ret.
• Andrey Rublev (2) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4
• Alexander Bublik (7) beat Tomas Machac (Q): 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Andy Murray beat Denis Shapovalov: 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Botic van de Zandschulp beat Adrian Mannarino (6): 7-6 (3), 7-5
• Sebastian Korda beat Pavel Kotov: 6-0, 6-2