Pablo Carreno Busta captures first Masters 1000 title of career in Montreal

Two-time Grand Slam semifinalist and former world No. 10 Pablo Carreno Busta won the seventh and biggest ATP title of his career on Sunday, battling back from a set down to defeat Hubert Hurkacz, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the final of Montreal.

It’s his first Masters 1000 title—his biggest career title before this was an ATP 500 crown on the clay of Hamburg, Germany just over a year ago.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Carreno Busta said afterwards. “I felt really, really comfortable on the court during all the week. It’s a big thing for me to be a Masters 1000 winner.”

Though the two had split their two previous tour-level meetings, 1-1, Hurkacz came into the final as the favorite on paper, out-ranking Carreno Busta by 13 spots—No. 10 to No. 23—and he certainly looked like the favorite early on, getting the first break of the match for 4-2, after which the two held until the Pole had the first set in his pocket.

But Carreno Busta went right to work from there, jumping out to an early 3-0 lead en route to taking the second set, then grabbing another early break for 2-1 in the third, eventually building a 5-3 lead in the decider—and then sealing the victory by breaking the current No. 10 yet again to close it out after an hour and 45 minutes on court.

It’s been a tough year for Carreno Busta, dipping to No. 23 last month, his lowest ranking in almost two years—but with this victory he’s projected to bounce right back up to No. 14, his highest ranking since he was No. 12 during last year’s US Open.

“I just continued working,” he said. “I lost a lot of times in the first round this year, and to players outside the Top 100, but I continued believing in myself, my work, my team—I wasn’t playing badly, and I just tried to stay positive all the time.

"This week has just been amazing.”

The Spaniard’s path to the title in Montreal also included wins over No. 14-ranked Matteo Berrettini (first round) and No. 12-ranked Jannik Sinner (third round).

Carreno Busta is the first unseeded player to win the Masters 1000 event in Canada since Guillermo Canas in 2002, and the first player ranked outside the Top 20 to win the event since a No. 43-ranked Andrei Pavel the year before in 2001.

He’s also just the third Spanish man ever to win this tournament, after Manuel Orantes (1975) and, of course, Rafael Nadal (2005, 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2019).

Hurkacz had been 5-0 in his career in ATP finals going into the final against Carreno Busta, and was trying to become just the third man in the Open Era to win their first six ATP finals, after Ernests Gulbis and Martin Klizan (who both lost their seventh).