Hurkacz Marches On In Metz Title Defence

Second seed Hubert Hurkacz stepped up his title defence at the Moselle Open with a dominant quarter-final win on Friday.

After dropping seven games in his opening match against Dominic Thiem, the Pole was even more efficient in a 6-3, 6-2 victory against France's Arthur Rinderknech in the Metz quarter-finals. The defending champion needed just over an hour to secure victory, saving the only break point against him at 1-2 in the second set before he won the final five games of the match, including the last 14 points in a row.

Hurkacz has dropped one place to No. 11 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings this week, but can move ahead of Jannik Sinner and back into the Top 10 by reaching the Metz final. He can also overtake Alexander Zverev for eighth place in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Turin by retaining his title.

[ATP APP]

Hurkacz will face Lorenzo Sonego in Saturday's semi-finals. The Italian has won all six sets he's played this week, including his 6-4, 6-4 victory against Sebastian Korda on Friday.

Also on Friday, in the top half of the draw, Stan Wawrinka meets Mikael Ymer before fourth seed Holger Rune takes on seventh seed Alexander Bublik in the quarter-finals. Wawrinka defeated top seed Daniil Medvedev in three sets on Thursday.