Zhizhen Zhang of China beat Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 3-6 6-4 7-6(4) within the first spherical of the Japan Open in Tokyo on Wednesday, October 18. Hurkacz, who received the Shanghai Masters final weekend, thus suffered a shock defeat by the hands of the 27-year-old Chinese language.
Zhang will tackle Aslan Karatsev of Russia within the second spherical on Thursday, October 19. The highly effective Russian is a formidable participant, however Zhang will fancy his probabilities of going deep into the event.
On that be aware, allow us to check out two issues that stood out within the match between Zhang and Hurkacz:
#1 Hurkacz used his forehand and drop pictures effectively within the first set
Hurkacz is thought to own a powerful serve, however used his refined contact effectively within the first set to get a break of serve and thereby received the primary set. The tall Pole used his drop pictures effectively to tug the Chinese language into the web repeatedly.
He additionally stored hitting his forehand with lots of energy and hit eight winners off that wing within the first set itself. On the finish of the set, Hurkacz seemed effectively and actually on prime and Zhang wanted a particular effort to get again into the match.
#2 Zhang’s groundstrokes and volleying received him the match
Zhang began the second set badly, too, as Hurkacz broke him early to take a 3-1 lead. Nevertheless, the Chinese language then broke again to stage the rating and obtained one other break to win the second set. He then matched Hurkacz stroke for stroke within the third set and took it right into a tie-break.
Zhang raced to a 4-0 lead within the tie-break, however Hurkacz then fought again to scale back the deficit to 4-5. Nevertheless, the Chinese language then received the following two factors to complete the match off, as Hurkacz tried to place an excessive amount of energy behind an inside-out forehand and hit it broad.
Zhang exhibited some clear placing within the final two units, together with his down-the-line backhand being notably good. The Chinese language additionally rushed to the web fairly continuously to complete factors with volleys.
Zhang, fairly unexpectedly, out-aced Hurkacz with 10 aces within the match, whereas the latter was capable of hit solely 5. The Pole put in a somewhat disappointing efficiency so far as his serve was involved on the day, as he was capable of win solely 38% of the factors on his second serve within the match. Zhang, in the meantime, received 57% of the factors on his second serve.
Edited by Sudeshna Banerjee