World No 1 Daniil Medvedev lost his second straight ATP grass-court final when he was thrashed in straight sets by Poland's Hubert Hurkacz at the Halle Open on Sunday.
The Russian was brushed aside in 63 minutes in a 6-1, 6-4 a defeat that comes hot on the heels last week's straight sets loss to wild card Tim van Rijthoven at 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.
World No 12 Hurkacz earned the fifth title of his career, but his first on grass having also reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year.
“Daniil is an unbelievable player,” said Hurkacz. “He’s the best player in the world so it’s very tricky to play him. All the right shots went my way at the beginning, so I definitely gained a lot of momentum from that.”
In contrast, it was a fifth straight defeat in a championship match for Medvedev, who has not won a title since denying Novak Djokovic the calendar Grand Slam to win the 2021 US Open for his maiden major triumph.
Medvedev, who will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon due to its ban on Russian and Belarusian players, came into Sunday's match having not dropped a set while saving 22 of the 23 break points he faced during his four matches.
But the Russian struggled to get his first serves in as Hurkacz jumped into a 5-0 lead in no time with two breaks of his opponent's delivery.
Medvedev finally held his serve at 1-5 before Hurkacz wrapped up the opening set in 27 minutes.
There was, however, no end to Medvedev's frustrations in the second set as the Pole once again broke serve early, continuing to dominate the rallies both from the back of the court and when he advanced to the net.
Medvedev saved two breakpoints to hold serve in the seventh game to stay close to Hurkacz, but he could not get the break back against his opponent, who did not allow the Russian a single opportunity on his own delivery during the entire match.
Over in the UK, Italy's Matteo Berrettini retained his Queen's Club title after beating Filip Krajinovic of Serbia 7-5, 6-4.
Wimbledon starts on June 27 and Berrettini is heading to the All England Club having won 20 of his last 21 matches on grass – his only loss coming against Novak Djokovic in last year's Wimbledon final.
“I couldn’t ask for a better start to the grass season,” Berrettini said. “I am feeling really good – obviously a Slam is different, best-of-five sets. And a lot of pressure is going to be on me. But I guess that's normal.
“I've worked so hard for this. I know that Wimbledon is different but I know that I can do it, I did it once. I'm really looking forward to it, but I know every match will be tough.”
