Potential point of the year pushes Van de Zandschulp to gritty win over Hurkacz

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hurkacz-hubert/zuHOBnY9/"]Hubert Hurkacz[/a], ranked 72nd but rising after a difficult summer, fought past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/giron-marcos/OWOgryOk/"]Marcos Giron[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tabilo-alejandro/YgVnM5vO/"]Alejandro Tabilo[/a] in the opening two rounds and was drawn against Dutchman [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-de-zandschulp-botic/YwiLpILD/"]Botic van de Zandschulp[/a] after the latter's impressive wins over [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mpetshi-perricard-giovanni/ITe9m2F8/"]Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/medvedev-daniil/O8qG0Nhb/"]Daniil Medvedev[/a].[/p][p]There was no stopping Hurkacz's serve in the opening set - the big Pole hit five aces and won 20/24 service points en route to a comfortable 6-3 set win over Van de Zandschulp, who was swatted aside in 32 minutes.[/p][p]The second set started positively for Van de Zandschulp, comfortably breaking Hurkacz to go up 2-0 and take a lifeline in Montreal. It went downhill for the 70th-ranked Dutchman, however, with Hurkacz winning the next four games to retake control and edge closer to a first round of 16 at a Masters 1000 tournament since May 2025.[/p][embed guid="1f933903-a046-43dd-b715-ec67129819b5" url="https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2085826541653528877?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Van de Zandschulp valiantly fought for his tournament in an up-and-down second set for both players and hit one of the points of the year after craftily saving a monstrous Hurkacz smash to fend off a second consecutive match point and return to break point. The Dutchman fueled his game through that point, earning the opportunity to keep his Canadian Open alive with a break.[/p][p]During the tiebreak, Van de Zandschulp budged first and handed Hurkacz a minibreak with an unforced error. The Dutchman recovered, took back the initiative and sailed perfectly through Hurkacz's last two serves to take the set and force a decider.[/p][h2]Third-set tug-of-war[/h2][p]Hurkacz opened on the attack and forced Van de Zandschulp to escape an early break point. The Dutchman returned the favour at 2-2, but had no answer to a 215kph serve from the Pole, who laboriously closed out his service game against an offensive Van de Zandschulp.[/p][p]Mistakes crept back into Hurkacz's game just as Van de Zandschulp was back in shape, as the former top-10 player hit two double faults and handed Van de Zandschulp two break chances at 3-3 to keep the Dutchman in the chase. Hurkacz proved himself an excellent escape artist, fiercely defending his service game and still holding on despite immense pressure.[/p][embed guid="79597d88-0135-4636-986c-63d69b6c3dc5" url="https://x.com/TennisTV/status/2085849551441637551?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]The two barely escaped each other in the third set and kept upping the pressure. Van de Zandschulp battled with Hurkacz in his own service game and barely survived to get to 5-5. A double fault allowed Van de Zandschulp to take the initiative, after which the net headband helped the Dutchman on the way to a crucial break.[/p][p]Serving for the match, Van de Zandschulp battled with Hurkacz after the latter received medical attention for his wrist. Another up-and-down game, of which there were many in the last set, went Van de Zandschulp's way, ending the match after 2 hours and 44 minutes to join fellow countryman Tallon Griekspoor in the last 16 in Montreal.[/p][p]Following his win on Friday night, Van de Zandschulp, who last reached the last 16 at a Masters 1000 tournament in Paris in October 2023, will face the winner between Terrence Atmane and Jakub Mensik in the round of 16.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/hurkacz-h-zuHOBnY9/van-de-zandschulp-b-YwiLpILD/?mid=8p5t9BTj"]Check the full match statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="a4db8e56-5de4-4b0a-a01e-0ebf6575c2df" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="f4059823-22c0-49e0-8666-efcf3a6d30e4" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /]