After the fall of favourite Jannik Sinner in the third round, it is the turn of Alexander Zverev and Hubert Hurkacz to pack up and leave in the quarter-finals of the Omnium Banque Nationale.
Zverev first won in three sets of 7-6, 1-6 and 6-4 against the American Sebastian Korda.
After a hard-fought first set, in which Korda won the tiebreaker (7-5), Zverev regained control of the match. He was leading 4-1 in the second set when Korda fell heavily to the ground. There were fears for his health, given the quality of his play diminished in the following exchanges.
But Korda recovered, and came out in fine fettle in the final set. The score was level at 4-4 when Zverev was broken. Korda then easily won his serve, and the game.
Zverev was the only player still active to have previously won the National Bank Open. This is only Korda’s second career victory against a member of the top 5. He now has a 2-8 record against members of the top 10 global.
Cold blood
A few minutes after Zverev, it was the turn of fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz to fall. He lost in three sets of 3-6, 7-6, 7-5.
During the duel, his opponent Alexei Popyrin showed extreme calm in important moments. He narrowly got the upper hand in the tiebreaker in the second set, which he won 7-5.
Tensions built throughout the duel between the opponents. After his best shots, Popyrin invited the crowd to celebrate with him, much to Hurkacz’s dismay. The Pole was seen to lack concentration at the end of the match, spending a lot of time grumbling to the official after the exchanges.
With the fall of Zverev and Hukacz, Andrey Rublev is the only member of the top five seeds still active at the National Bank Open.