No. 15 seed Ugo Humbert fired up his supporters in his native France by toppling No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the Round of 16 at the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday.
Humbert won the first five games of the match and sailed to a first-set win, but Alcaraz punched back in the second set, where he emerged from a 2-2 tie to roll on and even the match.
Both players held serve throughout the third set until the 12th game, when Alcaraz faced double match point and saved one but not the next.
Humbert, 26, said the match was the biggest win of his career.
“I went for every shot,” Humbert said. “That’s why I think I had less energy in the second set and in the third it was a mountain that was with me from the beginning of the third set to the end. I trusted myself in big moments and I made some big shots.”
Humbert finished with a 26-23 edge in winners, while both players committed 38 unforced errors in the two-hour, 16-minute match. Humbert’s next foe will be Australia’s Jordan Thompson, who was a 7-5, 7-6 (5) winner over French wild card Adrian Mannarino.
Alcaraz lost despite winning 38 of 46 points (82.6 percent) on his first serve. Alcaraz, a four-time Grand Slam champion, still has never made it past the quarterfinals in four appearances at the Paris Masters.
No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany also had a three-set scare but survived France’s Arthur Fils 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Zverev had 16 aces among 22 winners.
“I am happy I hung in there (Thursday). It was a great match,” Zverev said of his fast-rising 20-year-old opponent. “He is a great player and has improved a lot this year. I am looking forward to the next few battles we are going to have.”
Zverev now stands as the highest seed remaining because No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner withdrew Tuesday due to a virus.
Zverev’s quarterfinal opponent will be No. 10 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who had a tough test of his own but defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2.
Eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria trailed 5-3 in the third-set tiebreaker before charging back to win the final four points and edge French wild card Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
In another pair of three-set matches, ninth seed Alex de Minaur of Australia beat Great Britain’s Jack Draper 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 13 Holger Rune of Denmark eliminated France’s Arthur Cazaux 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Also, Russian Karen Khachanov swept Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (5), 6-4.
–Field Level Media
