Hubi is blessed

For his return to a Grand Slam, Hurkacz beat a diminished Bergs, then he plays against the young Quinn, a real opportunity to reach the third round and pick up quite a few points

Well, it sure wasn’t peak Hurkacz in the first round, really sluggish for two sets before feeling a bit better and also taking advantage of a big drop from Bergs, we saw the Pole’s Grand Slam demons again. Because yeah, Hurkacz and Slams is not a love story, he’s actually a specialist in 5-set matches he’s supposed to win easily, but for some reason he used to love making things complicated. Maybe with his long injury layoff and a new momentum he’ll finally have that breakthrough to be more clinical and focused in the long format (he says he’s worked a lot on the mental side)? I’m reserving judgment, especially after this average first round. The thing is, he’s facing a player within his reach, so we can be optimistic about him getting through this round. With the quality of his serve he should be fairly comfortable against the young Quinn, an American who’s super at ease in attacking phases but way too often without a plan B. The match-up is simple: Quinn will try to attack and come forward to the net, Hubi will play on the return and try to make him crack, both sides can defend themselves and it mostly depends on their form on the day. Quinn isn’t in great form BUT his R1 was actually good, yes Griekspoor on the other side was like a ghost, but the American’s performance also deserves to be highlighted and he’s gained confidence.

With desire and a clear game plan for at least 3 sets, I think he’s capable of exposing Hubi’s consistency issues, who is still in a comeback phase, let’s not forget that.