Wimbledon: Poland's Hurkacz moves into 3rd round

Poland's Hubert Hurkacz advanced to the third round of Wimbledon on Wednesday with a straight-sets victory over Austria's Sebastian Ofner.

Hubert Hurkacz

EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN

The 29-year-old Pole defeated the 110th-ranked Austrian 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round of the men's singles at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament in London.

Hurkacz, ranked No. 94 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), will next face 21st-ranked American Tommy Paul.

The Polish player missed last year's Wimbledon. Two years ago, he suffered a serious knee injury at the All England Club during his second-round match against France's Arthur Fils.

The injury sidelined him for months and disrupted his career. Hurkacz arrived at Wimbledon as the seventh seed two years ago but returned this year ranked at the far end of the world's top 100.

Elsewhere in the men's draw, fellow Pole Kamil Majchrzak advanced to the second round on Tuesday with a 6-3, 7-5, 7-5 win over Chile's Alejandro Tabilo.

Majchrzak, ranked a career-high No. 45, will face American Zachary Svajda on Thursday for a place in the third round.

On the women's side, Polish world No. 3 Iga Świątek opened the defence of her Wimbledon title on Tuesday with a three-set victory over American Taylor Townsend.

The 25-year-old Pole will face 2021 Wimbledon finalist Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic in the second round on Thursday.

Świątek is the last Polish woman remaining in the singles after Maja Chwalińska, Magdalena Fręch and Magda Linette were all eliminated in the first round.

(gs)

Source: IAR, PAP