Hubert Hurkacz lost his cool and exploded after being called for a touch of the net as the Pole couldn’t believe what was called in the deciding moments of his Miami Masters thriller against Grigor Dimitrov.
In the Miami round-of-16, 2021 champion Hurkacz exited the tournament following a very tight defeat as No. 11 seed edged out the Pole 3-6 6-3 7-6 (3).
At the start of the third-set tie-break, there wasn’t much separating the two as they were tied to two points apiece. In the fifth point, Hurkacz hit a volley at the net and he even started flinching his fist in celebration but then chair umpire Carlos Bernardes called a touch of the net.
Instead of going 3-2 up in the tie-break, Hurkacz fell 2-3 down and he appeared to be in absolute disbelief before smashing his racket in a moment of frustration. The 27-year-old Pole pleaded his case but the chair umpire was adamant that he 100 percent touched the net.
Hurkacz never recovered from the incident as Dimitrov won four of the next five points to complete a three-set win. At the net, the Bulgarian showed some compassion for Hurkacz, apologizing although he didn’t do anything wrong and telling him he was turned around when the Pole was called for a touch and couldn’t say if the call was right or wrong.
“Mr Hurkacz touched the net with his left foot…” 😶
After a thrilling match, Hurkacz vs Dimitrov ended in controversial fashion at the #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/yk0R2wnJYe
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 27, 2024
While it was certainly a big call to make in such a moment, it was the right one as later it was confirmed that Hurkacz did indeed make contact with the net after hitting the volley.
How Dimitrov beat Hurkacz in a thriller?
In the sixth game, Hurkacz missed out on the first break point opportunity of the match but still was the one who claimed the first break as the eighth-seeded Pole broke Dimitrov in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead before routinely serving out for the opener in the following game.
Down by a set, Dimitrov found himself in real danger of also going down by an early second-set break. Luckily for Dimitrov, he managed to save a break point in the third and fifth games.
After saving two early second-set break points, Dimitrov got his first break of the match in the sixth game for a 4-2 lead. Up by a break, the 11th-seeded Bulgarian held on to his serve for the remainder of the set to send the match into a decider.
In the third set, each Dimitrov and Hurkacz had one break point but didn’t convert as the deciding set had to be decided in a tie-break. As mentioned above, the score was even at 2-2 at the start of the tie-break but then a stunning moment happened and the Pole went on to lose the match.
Dimitrov achieves a Masters feat by beating Hurkacz for the Miami quarterfinal
By beating Hurkacz, Dimitrov improved to 5-0 in his head-to-head against the Pole but also reached his first Miami quarterfinal and now has made at least the quarterfinal in all nine Masters tournaments. It took the 32-year-old Bulgarian 12 Miami appearances for his first quarterfinal at the tournament.
“Finally! I knew the last one was missing honestly. It’s been like a kryptonite for me, this tournament,” Dimitrov said after beating Hurkacz.
“It was a very tough battle today. Hubi is such an amazing guy. I think above all I was just happy that I could stay in the match and have such a good run. He’s such a tricky competitor, so crafty around the court.
“I think physically we were both going at each other very hard today. It was a pleasant match honestly to play.”
To now reach his first Miami semifinal, Dimitrov will have to overcome a really difficult test as he is playing top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz next.
When Dimitrov and 20-year-old Alcaraz meet, it will be their fifth meeting. So far, Alcaraz has won three of their four meetings but it should be noted that the Bulgarian won their last meeting at the 2023 Shanghai Masters with a 5-7 6-2 6-4 scoreline.
Beating the two-time Grand Slam champion from Spain may be a very difficult task but former world No. 3 Dimitrov is excited about the challenge.
“I’ve been very consistent on a lot of ends. I think if I clean up my game a little bit it can be very interesting. I’m excited because these are the types of matches I want to play. First time in the quarter-finals here, I think it gives you an extra boost,” Dimitrov said ahead of his match against Alcaraz.
If Dimitrov beats Alcaraz, it will be his third semifinal of the year in six tournaments played.