Hurkacz Battles Past Kokkinakis In The Longest 3-Set Match Of The Season In Miami!

Current world no. 9 Hubert Hurkacz battles past Thanasi Kokkinakis in the 3-set thriller at round 2 of the Miami Open, recording the longest best-of-three match of the season. It took the 2021 Miami champion 3 hours and 31 minutes to finally put the Aussie away. 

Hurkacz had to save multiple match points to finally prevail against Kokkinakis © AFP

Hurkacz had to save five match points, three in the second-set tiebreak and two in the final-set tie-break, ultimately winning by a small margin in 3-sets 6-7(10), 7-6(7), 7-6(6). They both played great, only breaking each other once on serve. Hurkacz hit 21 aces while Kokkinakis hit 23 aces. 

They put on a huge show at the Grandstand yesterday. Thanasi’s showmanship and ability really shown through the matches he has put on this season, starting from the 5-set thriller that took him and Andy Murray 5 hours and 45 minutes until late morning at the Australian Open earlier this year. 

The eighth seed will now move on to play Frenchman Adrian Mannarino on Tuesday. Hurkazc leads their head 2 head meeting 2-1 and will be looking to extend his lead with another win. 

Hurkacz sits at 14-6 on his win-loss record while Mannarino at 11-8 this year. Both players are in pretty good form; however, the match against Kokkinakis probably gave a good boost of confidence to the Pole. Yet, anything can happen.