Humbert held his nerve
It amplifies its good momentum at the end of the season. Already remarkable in Beijing and Shanghai where he reached his second quarter-final in Masters 1000, Ugo Humbert continues to have fun this week, this time on hard European indoors. Thursday, Messin validated his ticket for the quarter-finals in Basel by dominating in two tight sets (7-6, 7-6) and a little over two hours of play (2h02 precisely) another man in form at the moment , the Chilean Nicolas Jarry, 20th in the world. For a place in the last four, he will face Casper Ruud or Dominic Stricker.
The game featured a duel of servers, with no break conceded by either side. But Ugo Humbert was the more threatening of the two on the restart. Certainly, the Frenchman only obtained one more break point (5 against 4), but he was only in danger on a service game, the 7th of the match, during which he dismissed the four adverse opportunities. For his part, he had opportunities on Jarry’s first three service games in the second act, without further success. But in the tie-breaks, he was able to tighten the game, his left-handed tennis disrupting his opponent. More enterprising, he logically triumphed, avenging his compatriot Adrian Mannarino who had lost in the first round against the Chilean.
Fritz and De Minaur lose ground ahead of Turin
In the other matches of the day, the Masters candidates suffered. Already in difficulty against Max Purcell when he entered the fray, Taylor Fritz gave in in the second round, as in Tokyo last week, this time against Russian qualifier Alexander Shevchenko. The latter, who had already claimed the scalp of Stan Wawrinka during his previous match, won in almost three hours (2h53) and three sets all played in the decisive game (6-7, 7-6, 7- 6). Shevchenko showed great character to recover from five wasted set points in the first act (he led 6 points to 1 in the deciding game), and also save two match points. In the quarter, he will find Félix Auger-Aliassime or Botic van de Zandschulp.
If Fritz, 9th in the Race (first provisional non-qualifier), did not give up on the Masters by losing, Alex de Minaur clearly saw Turin moving away. The Australian, currently 13th in this race, even did worse than his American rival. He did not really have any illusions against the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor who won in two sets (6-4, 6-3) and 1h24 of play. He will challenge Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the last four. The Pole, 11th in this final sprint, will have the opportunity to perform well before Bercy.
2023-10-26 16:34:00
#ATP #Basel #Ugo #Humbert #wins #place #quarterfinals #beating #Nicolas #Jarry
