Hurkacz pummels Medvedev for famous Halle title triumph

dpaBerlin Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz produced a stunning performance to down world number one Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-4 and claim the Halle ATP grass title on Sunday.Last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist warmed up perfectly for this year’s tournament beginning on June 27 by racing into a 5-0 lead against the Russian and never looking back.He broke again in the first game of the second set with Medvedev struggling to deal with his excellent returns in Germany."I am very happy with the win,” the first Polish winner at Halle said courtside. "He is the best player in the world. So it is very tricky.” A booming serve also caused Medvedev huge problems and Hurkacz said he was now looking forward with "confidence” to Wimbledon."I was serving well. I had the momentum,” he added.It was the world number 12’s fifth ATP title overall and first this year after just over an hour on court. However, the 25-year-old had never previously won a tour grass tournament.The fifth seed dropped just two sets all week and also impressed in beating Nick Kyrgios in the semi-finals.Hurkacz also defeated Medvedev in his Wimbledon run last year before toppling Roger Federer.Medvedev is not able to compete at Wimbledon after organizers decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players following the invasion of Ukraine.