Hurkacz Takes Hard Path Into Basel Final, Felix Fires Past Rune

Hubert Hurkacz has continued his hot late-season form by defeating Ugo Humbert 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) Saturday to advance to the Swiss Indoors Basel final.

The win lifted the World No. 11 Pole ahead of Taylor Fritz into ninth place in the season-long Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin, leaving him just one place behind Holger Rune and the cut for the eight-man Nitto ATP Finals.

Hurkacz chose the hard path to victory. He failed to serve out the match at 5-3 in the third set and then failed to convert two match points on Humbert's serve in the following game. He needed a further three match points in the tie-break to clinch victory.

In the quarter-finals Hurkacz dropped 23 aces on Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor but against the left-handed Humbert he managed just eight, including one on match point. He now has 958 aces for the year as he attempts to reach 1,000 in a season for the first time.

Hurkacz, who won the Rolex Shanghai Masters title earlier this month, seeks his third title of the year, second at the ATP 500 level (Halle, 2022) and eighth overall.

Hurkacz will meet Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final after the Canadian continued the best week of his season. The 23-year-old defeated Holger Rune 6-3, 6-2 to reach his first final since winning the title in at the same event last year.

The Canadian arrived in Basel having won just four of his past 12 matches, but has looked closer to his best at the ATP 500 event. In an all-action display against Rune, Auger-Aliassime broke the Dane’s serve four times to earn his first Top 10 win of the year after 83 minutes. Auger-Aliassime will compete for his fifth tour-level crown on Sunday.

Rune leaves Basel 215 points ahead of Hurkacz in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. The Pole can cut that gap to just 15 points if he wins the trophy on Sunday, but he says he is trying to keep thoughts of a second appearance in Turin out of mind.

"I try to shut down the noise and do my job, because ultimately if you can do that then you give yourself the best chance," Hurkacz said.