Poland’s
Hubert Hurkacz achieved another milestone during
his winning run in the
Paris Masters.
The 26-year-old defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in
the round of 16 clash of the competition with a score of 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday.
While doing so, Hurkacz became only the ninth player in the
history of men’s tennis in the Open era to produce more than 1,000 aces.
The first player in history to achieve that feat was the
former world number one Pete Sampras in 1993.
Novak Djokovic’s coach Goran Ivanisevic holds the record for
the most aces in a calendar year. He registered 1,477 aces in 1996.
Former American tennis player John Isner is the only player
in the list who managed to achieve the feat five times or more. He did that on
seven occasions.
Ivanisevic and Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic achieved the feat on four
occasions each, respectively.
The other players in the list are America’s Reilly Opelka, Andy
Roddick, Canada’s Milos Raonic and South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
Hurkacz is now set to face off Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov in
the quarterfinal of the competition on Friday.
It will be the fourth meeting between the two on the tennis
court. In the previous three meetings, the world number 17 has a clear advantage
as he emerged victorious on all three occasions.
The last meeting between
the two took place in Rotterdam where Dimitrov came out on top in straight sets
with a score of 7-6, 7-6.