Hurkacz claims maiden title at Winston-Salem Open

North Carolina, August 25: Hubert Hurkacz lifted his first ATP trophy after upstaging top seed Benoit Paire in the final of the Winston-Salem Open.

Hurkacz made Polish history as the third seed stunned Paire 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 at the ATP 250 tournament in North Carolina on Saturday.

The 22-year-old became the first Pole to win a tour-level title since Wojtek Fibak in 1982 after breaking serve on five occasions against Paire.

Contesting his first ATP final, Hurkacz defeated four consecutive seeded opponents to celebrate a maiden trophy following wins over 16th seed Feliciano Lopez, 10th seed Frances Tiafoe and second seed Denis Shapovalov before trumping Paire.

Hurkacz, who withstood a brief rain delay in the decider, will now head into the US Open with confidence.

He will open his Flushing Meadows campaign against another Frenchman – Jeremy Chardy – while Paire is set to face Brayden Schnur.