Hubert Hurkacz has advanced to his second career ATP Tour final by beating American qualifier Christian Harrison at the Delray Beach Open.

The fourth-seeded Hurkacz ended the fairytale run of world No.789 Christian Harrison with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 victory in their last-four showdown.

Hurkacz’s only other final was in 2019, when he won at Winston-Salem to become the second Polish tour-level champion in the Open era.

The world No.35 will rise up the rankings after his week in Florida and could earn a seeding for next month’s Australian Open.

That would allow him to avoid facing the leading title contenders, like Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, in the opening round at Melbourne Park, he noted.

“Obviously it’s a step forward, and I want to be playing better and better,” Hurkacz said.

“It’s a great start of the year.”

Harrison, 26, was playing in his first main-tour semi-final of a career that has been slowed by injuries that required surgery eight times.

He will soar more than 400 spots in the rankings to 345th when they are next updated.

Harrison double-faulted on his final two service points to fall behind in the second set.

Hurkacz served for the match, fell behind 15-40 and then closed it out by winning four consecutive points, the last three with big serves.

“Very happy to win this match today,” Hurkacz said in his on-court interview.

“Christian played pretty amazing throughout the whole tournament.

“He qualified here and had his best results on the ATP Tour.

“Especially after all he came through, all the surgeries, it’s really great for him.”

Hurkacz’s opponent in the decider will be American Sebastian Korda or Cameron Norrie of Britain.