Jannik Sinner and Hubert Hurkaczin one hour and 18 minutes, they also make their debut in Halle in doubles and debut with victory. Overcoming the number 3 seeds, the two Americans, in the first round Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow, by 6-4 5-7 (11-9), at the end of a super tie-break in the third set in which it was necessary to cancel two match points by the Italian-Polish pair. Now the couple to face will be the all-French one composed of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul.
In the first game Hurkacz does everything between aces, grand primes, errors and keeping the game at the deciding point. For a large part of the set nothing in particular happens and the exchanges are very rare (one of these sees Sinner catch a running crosscourt forehand from a difficult position in the seventh game). This is the scenario until 5-4, when, at 0-15, first Lammons completely “smooths” a ball from Sinner, then Hurkacz plays a winning lob and, to complete the job, Withrow commits a double fault: a real and precisely autobreak that sends the Italian-Polish duo on the final 6-4.
For good measure, the second set follows the trend of the first, with the serves playing a starring role. Sure, there are some more exchanges, but they aren’t many. Until the most advanced stages we never reach the deciding point (if we ever come close to it). At 5-5, however, difficulties arise with Hurkacz’s serve, which in fact goes 0-30 down. The Pole, with a little help from the Italian, gets back up to 30-30, but on one of his dropshot attempts from the unguarded part of the pitch which ends up in the net, the score reaches 30-40. Double fault, break and, in the space of a few minutes, super tie-break.
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We start with the immediate minibreak by Hurkacz and Sinner, immediately recovered by the USA duo with Lammons on net. However, the double fault arrives which sends the Italian-Polish duo to 4-2. At 6-5 Lammons invents several numbers at the net to level the situation at 6-6 (with an associated change of court), and then it is a great response from Withrow on Sinner’s serve that gives two match points to the two Americans. Both, however, end up cancelled, with Jannik shooting straight at Withrow for 9-9. Then it’s Lammons who misses a complex smash, throwing the ball far from the court and giving Hurkacz’s serve the chance to close. The Pole doesn’t have to wait and the victory arrives.
To a large extent, as has been said, it is the serves that do the talking, with Hurkacz hitting the majority of the pair’s 11 aces. Just three more points won by him and Sinner (67-64), but in the end they are enough.
