The resilience and intensity of Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta allowed him to sign an important career first on Sunday.
Carreno Busta held off powerful shots from Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and won the men’s National Bank Tennis Open 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to secure a first career title at a tournament in Masters 1000.
Carreno Busta is the first player since Guillermo Canas in 2002 in Toronto to win the tournament in Canada without being a seed. Andy Roddick, in 2003 in Montreal, was the last player to record a first career Masters 1000 title in Canada.
Carreno Busta, 23rd in the world, also became the first champion of the Canadian tournament to be ranked outside the top-20 since the Romanian Andrei Pavel (no 43), in 2001 in Montreal, and the third Spaniard, after Manuel Orantes and Rafael Nadal.
This is the seventh career title for Carreno Busta, who at the same time took sweet revenge against Hurkacz, who had defeated him in the final of the Omnium de Moselle, in France, in 2021.
Hurkacz, seeded eighth in Montreal, was 5-0 in a career final on the ATP Tour, but his 18 aces failed to keep his record clean. The Pole totaled 95 aces during the week.
Both players were relatively efficient and quick to serve in the first five games of the opening set, but Carreno Busta was the first to get broken.
In the sixth game, the Spaniard struggled on serve and allowed his opponent to take a 4-2 lead following an off-target backhand. Leading 5-3, Hurkacz fired another ace to win the first set on his first attempt.
The tide turned early in the second set, as Hurkacz experienced rare misses on serve. Trailing 1-0, he gave three consecutive points to his rival and he offered the break to Carreno Busta by sending his shot into the net.
The Spaniard had to work a little to give himself a 3-0 lead, but then he continued his momentum by landing a very good outgoing serve to force a final set.
As he had done a few times during the week, Hurkacz retired to the locker room between the second and third set, but the Pole did not get the desired effect when he returned from the field.
In the third game, Hurkacz opened the door for Carreno Busta and he was shattered when his audacious drop shot hit the top of the net but didn’t fall over the other side.
Carried away by the crowd, Carreno Busta won one of the most spectacular points of the tournament, in the sixth game.
With his back to the pitch, the Spaniard desperately brought a ball into play and then sent a smash from Hurkacz inbounds. The Pole then had two volleys at the net to sow hysteria on the center court of the IGA stadium.
Carreno Busta was able to celebrate after breaking Hurkacz one last time, in the ninth game.
Later on Sunday, Britain’s Daniel Evans and Australia’s John Peers will face Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Britain’s Neal Skupski, the third seeds, in the men’s doubles final.