Aug 10, 2023; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) hits a ball to Casper Ruud (not pictured) at Sobeys Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
(Reuters) -World number one Carlos Alcaraz produced a thrilling comeback to beat Hubert Hurkacz 3-6 7-6(2) 7-6(3) on Thursday and reach the quarter-finals of the Canadian Open as the Wimbledon champion continues to refine his game ahead of the upcoming U.S. Open.
The swashbuckling Spaniard got off to a nightmare start as Hurkacz jumped out to a 3-0 first set lead in just six minutes en route to capturing the first set.
Trouble mounted further for Alcaraz when he was broken at the start the second but he broke back for 1-1 and from there began to pick up the pace on his forehand while the Pole's serving cooled off.
Alcaraz dominated the second set tiebreak and appeared in complete control when he whipped a sensational crosscourt forehand winner for a 5-2 lead in the decider that brought the Toronto crowd to their feet.
But the natural showman got a little too cute in the next game, attempting back-to-back drop shots on match points that landed in the net and he was ultimately broken.
Hurkacz began to find his form again, breaking at love for 5-5 and holding to take a 6-5 advantage.
But there would be no escape from Alcaraz in the third set breaker where Hurkacz tightened up and committed some costly errors including a forehand that sailed long to deliver Alcaraz his 14th straight win.
Up next for Alcaraz is a quarter-final with one of two Americans - Tommy Paul or Marcos Giron.
Soon after the conclusion of the match, Scot Andy Murray announced that he had to pull out of his round of 16 match against Italy's Jannik Sinner with an abdominal injury.
FOKINA TOPPLES RUUD
Earlier, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina battled back from a third set deficit to beat Casper Ruud 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) and deny the third seed a place in the Canadian Open quarter-finals.
Ruud was two points away from victory at 5-3 30-0 before Davidovich Fokina served his way out of trouble.
Still leading 5-4, the Norwegian had a chance to seal the match but was unable to do so, badly shanking a shot on break point to give new life to his opponent.
Both players held serve to send the contest to a tiebreak as the match crossed the three-hour mark.
Ruud dug himself into an early hole in the breaker with some tentative serving and poor forehands and Davidovich Fokina claimed the win with a drop shot.
"When I broke at 5-4, that gave me like a shot of tequila," the Spaniard said.
Up next for Davidovich Fokina is American Mackenzie McDonald, who reached his first quarter-final of a Masters 1000 tournament by dispatching Canadian Milos Raonic 6-3 6-3.
After crushing 52 aces across his first two matches, hometown hero Raonic's biggest weapon proved his undoing.
He managed just nine aces to go with six double faults, some coming at the worst possible times including on set point in the opener and a break point in the second that put McDonald up 2-0.
Despite the loss, Raonic, a former world number three who returned to the tour in June after a two-year absence due to injury, said the tournament was a positive experience.
"A lot of things to look back and be proud of. Happy with how the week went overall" he said.
"I wish I could have been better on court today but you can't discredit what two years away does, right?"
FRITZ FIZZLES
Australia's Alex De Minaur beat eighth seed Taylor Fritz 7-6(7) 4-6 6-1 in a topsy-turvy battle to reach the quarters of a Masters 1000 tournament for his first time.
Fritz led 5-1 in the opener before De Minaur battled back with help from 27 unforced errors in the set from the American, and De Minaur converted his sixth set point in the tiebreak.
Fritz regrouped and rode an early break in the second set to level the match but De Minaur was razor sharp in the decider, using his all-court speed and gritty style to jump out to a 2-0 lead he would not relinquish.
De Minaur will next face a familiar foe in the quarter-final in the form of second seed Daniil Medvedev, who cruised past Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 6-4.
Medvedev holds a 4-1 lead in head-to-head matchups with De Minaur.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Ken Ferris and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
