In-form Hubert Hurkacz suffered a shock first-round exit from men’s singles competition at Wimbledon 2022 after suffering a 5-set defeat in a topsy-turvy contest against World No 37 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Monday. Hurkacz, the 7th seed and a semi-finalist from last year, lost 6-7, 4-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-7 in 3 hours and 28 minutes in a match that saw rain interruptions.
Hukacz, who had stunned Roger Federer and Daniil Medvedev last year at The Championships, was in good form, leading into Wimbledon as he had won the Halle Open, beating World No. 1 Medvedev in the final earlier this month.
Despite firing out 21 aces,Hurkacz was not able to cope with the intense show from Davidovich Fokina of Spain. Notably, this was the first match at Wimbledon which was decided by a 10-point tie-breaker in the final set as the grass-court Grand Slam had employed 7-point tie-breakers in the final set before.
Davidovich Fokina had an opportunity to close out the match as early as the 3rd set as he had 3 match points at 5-4. However, in a bid to try a tweener, the Spaniard missed out the first one before Hurkacsz saved the next too to force a 4th set and eventually a decider.
Hurkacz, who had pledged 100 euros for every ace he hit at Wimbledon to Ukraine’s relief, also had the opportunity to close out the match in the final set when serving at 5-4 but Davidovich Fokina managed to dig deep to break back and seal the match in his fifth match point.
RUUD, NORRIE PROGRESS
Earlier in the day, 3rd seed Casper Ruud the French Open finalist, and local hope Cameron Norrie progressed to the men’s singles second round.
Norrie, the British No. 1 who is seeded 9th, eased past Spain’s Pablo Andujar 6-0 7-6(3) 6-3 in straight sets.
Meanwhile, Ruud clinched a 7-6 (1) 7-6 (9) 6-2 win over Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
The losing French Open finalist earlier this month, Ruud was initially under pressure, but powered through the third set to claim his victory.