Ranked No 116 in the world, Wu showed no fear and broke in the seventh game of the opening set to lead 4-3. But parity was restored in the 10th game as the 23-year-old Asian Games silver medallist squandered two set points to let Hurkacz off the hook.
But former junior US Open winner Wu eventually reeled off seven straight points in the tiebreak to take the first set.
Hurkacz, the last man to beat Swiss legend Roger Federer at a grand slam – in the 2021 Wimbledon quarter-finals – won four straight points to take a 4-3 lead in the second set before going on the tie up the match.
Into the super tiebreak, 25-year-old Hurkacz brought up three match-points, only for Wu to double-fault and hand him the match.
“I was happy with my performance because Hurkacz is such a great player,” Wu, the first Chinese player to reach the junior world No 1 spot in 2017, said.
“I heard fans calling my name and cheering for me in the stands, the atmosphere was amazing. I had some cheers in previous overseas tournaments too but they were not as loud and clear.”
Wu added that he will fly to Australia next Monday for an ATP 250 tournament in Adelaide, as a warm-up for January’s Australian Open.
“I have played at a grand slam once before. I am just experiencing it, and seeing how far I can go being healthy this year,” Wu – who’s previous best at a major was a third-round finish at this year’s US Open – told reporters on Friday night.
In the second semi-final, Norrie prevailed in a hard-fought 7-6(11), 6-4 battle against world No 9 Fritz.
“I am looking forward to [the final] and I can take a lot of confidence from the last two matches playing Coleman and Taylor,” Norrie said. “Hubert has got a great serve, I really had to stay focused to be able to hang with him.”
Sunday will mark the first time Norrie will be playing on Christmas Day, away from his parents.
“Usually I try to go back to New Zealand where my parents live but I chose to come here,” he said. “I will be playing in Auckland a week before the Australian Open so I get to spend some time with them there. They are not too happy with me at the moment but hopefully they understand.”
This weekend’s tournament at Victoria Park Tennis Centre marks the return of top-class male tennis to Hong Kong for the first time in two decades, and the first major event since 2019’s WTA Hong Kong Open.
Tickets for the three-day exhibition quickly sold out, and fans were out in their droves on Saturday in some warm winter weather.
Norrie beats Wong and Wu stuns Wawrinka as top men’s tennis returns to Hong Kong
One fan, who bought two pairs of HK$500 tickets, said it was “great” to have such big sporting events back in Hong Kong after the pandemic halted almost everything in the city.
“I also watched the women’s tournament before the pandemic. It is excellent to have such rare events back again,” the 30-year-old, who identified himself as “Mr Chan”, said.
“It will be great if the Hong Kong Tennis Association can secure some ATP or WTA ranking tournaments in the future because it is such a privilege to have world-class players playing in town.”
Another fan, Hugo Cheung, said he could only get tickets for Saturday, and that it was “too difficult” to get Friday or Sunday seats.
“There are many fans in Hong Kong, so I would love to see Hong Kong hosting a lot more similar tournaments,” Cheung said.
Fans were later treated to another battling performance from Hong Kong’s Coleman Wong, Chak-lam, who pushed former three-time grand slam champion Stanislas Wawrinka all the way in their fifth-place play-off, before losing 4-6, 6-3, 13-11.
Local star Wong took the opening set after breaking the Swiss great early on, but he was 3-0 down before he knew it in the second set as Wawrinka fought back and levelled the match, pushing it into a super tiebreak.
From there it was a close battle, as fan favourite Wong pulled away midway through to lead 8-4. But the seasoned Wawrinka – a former world No 3 – showed all of his veteran nous to steal the victory from under Wong’s nose.
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