Alejandro Davidovich Fokina turned super tiebreaker into major heartbreaker for Hubert Hurkacz.
The 37th-ranked Spaniard earned his first Wimbledon main-draw win in dramatic style.
Onwards: Jabeur Passes First Test
Davidovich Fokina surprised the seventh-seeded Hurkacz 7-6(4), 6-4, 5-7, 2-6, 7-6(8) knocking the 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist out of the field on opening day.
In the space of a few hours, a couple of contenders to go deep into the second week—Hurkacz and former finalist Marin Cilic who withdrew after contracting Coronavirus—were both out on opening day.
In 2017, Davidovich Fokina made history as the first Spaniard to win the Wimbledon boys' crown in 50 years.
Today, the Monte-Carlo finalist again scored a historic victory.
For the first time in Wimbledon history, men's matches that get to 6-all in the fifth set (as well as women's matches deadlocked at 6-6 in the third set) are decided by a first to 10-point match supertiebreaker. Davidovich Fokina withstood 63 winners from Hurkacz hitting 45 winners against 40 unforced errors upsetting the man who took down Roger Federer last June.
"I'm very happy, because Hurkacz is a great player, he did semis here last year, and he was coming off winning a 500 [title] on grass," Davidovich Fokina said afterward. "This gives me a lot of confidence for the next match and to improve many aspects in my game."
Next up for Davidovich Fokina is a second-round match vs. Czech left-hander Jiri Vesely, who swept Federico Coria in his opener.
Photo credit: Getty