DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Building on momentum from the French Open, American Sebastian Korda has reached his first ATP Tour final.
Korda, the son of 1998 Australian Open champion Petr Korda, beat Cameron Norrie of Britain 6-3, 7-5 in the Delray Beach Open semifinals Tuesday night.
Korda's opponent Wednesday will be No. 4-seeded Hubert Hurkacz, who defeated American qualifier Christian Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Korda, 20, is a former World No. 1 junior who earned his first three tour-level wins in September at the French Open to reach the round of 16.
“For me the biggest thing was getting my consistency up,” the 6-foot-5 Florida native said. “Before, I would miss balls I don’t miss now. It's super big for me to be playing these matches, and getting a feel for my body and growing into my body.”
Korda trained in December with Andre Agassi, and they talked by phone after his latest victory.
“He's super pumped,” said Korda, who arrived at Delray Beach ranked 119th. In his first career quarterfinal he beat No. 2-seeded John Isner on Monday.
Against Norrie, Korda squandered two match points serving at 5-4 and lost the game, but broke back and then easily served out the match. He lost only seven points on his first serve.
Hurkacz's only other career final came in 2019, when he won at Winston-Salem to become the second Polish tour-level champion in the Open era.
He's ranked 35th, and his success at Delray Beach means he may be seeded at next month's Australian Open. That would allow him to avoid such title contenders as Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic in the first round, he noted.
“Obviously it’s a step forward, and I want to be playing better and better,” Hurkacz said. “It’s a great start of the year.”
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