MONTREAL (AFP) - Hubert Hurkacz overcame 53 winners from Nick Kyrgios to halt the Australian’s nine-match win streak with a three-set quarter-final victory on Friday (Aug 12) at the ATP Montreal Masters.

The Polish eighth seed managed 43 winners of his own in a rapid-fire 7-6(7/4), 6-7(5/7), 6-1 triumph that put him into his fourth semi-final at the Masters level.

Hurkacz has won both of his meetings with Kyrgios, with the first played on grass in June at Halle, Germany.

Kyrgios, known for quick play, had several service games go by in less than one minute, with the Wimbledon finalist barely pausing between the end of one point and the start of the next.

Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios, who won his first ATP title in three years last week in Washington, was bothered at times by his foot, lower back and hip as he lost momentum in the third set.

The pair combined for 39 aces, with Hurkacz striking 20 of them.

“Over the last two months, Nick has been playing incredibly,” Hurkacz said.

“The first two sets were pretty level but in the third maybe he was a bit injured and that hurt his serve.

“We were both serving well so the percentages were small. The level of competition is really high. There’s little difference between players ranked 10 and 40.

“Every match is 50-50.”

Hurzacz, a 2021 quarter-finalist in Canada, won his 31st match of the season.