Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic continued the quest for their fifth title of the season and third at ATP Masters 1000 level together on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters where they defeated third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden 7-6(13), 7-5.
The sixth seeds saved four set points in an epic opening set before they fended off all five break points they faced in the second set, according to Infosys ATP Stats, en route to a one-hour, 47-minute quarter-final triumph.
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Koolhof and Mektic have won Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Shanghai this year and will compete at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 10-17 November. The Dutch-Croatian team will play Neal Skupski and Michael Venus in the semi-finals in Paris.
The British-New-Zealand pair defeated Ariel Behar and Robert Galloway 6-4, 6-2 in 63 minutes. Skupski and Venus reached the final in Vienna last week and beat top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in straight sets in Paris.
Lloyd Glasspool and Adam Pavlasek were also winners on Friday. They downed Frenchmen Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 7-6(5), 6-4. Glasspool and Pavlasek will next take on Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten or US Open titlists Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson.
Former Rolex Paris Masters champion Holger Rune kept alive his slim hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals on Friday when he overcame Alex de Minaur in a dramatic quarter-final in the French capital.
In a baseline battle in Paris, Rune outlasted De Minaur down the home stretch to earn a dramatic 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory. The Dane locked in during the extended exchanges and recovered from squandering a break advantage in the third set to reach his fifth ATP Masters 1000 semi-final.
“He was putting so much up against me. He was making every ball with quality, deep in the court and the court is quite fast here,” Rune said. “I had to adjust my game a little bit and it was a constant battle but how I treated the last couple of games was very good. I went for it, I got it and I am very happy.”
The 21-year-old beat Novak Djokovic to win his maiden Masters 1000 crown in Paris in 2022 and is 12-1 at the indoor hard event. Rune is 13th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin on 3,025 points and can still qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. Eighth-placed De Minaur (3,745 points) currently occupies the final Nitto ATP Finals qualification spot and is aiming to make his debut in Turin.
Should Rune win his second Paris title in three years, he would move to within 120 points of De Minaur. The Australian De Minaur will chase further points at the ATP 250 event in Belgrade and Rune will head to the ATP 250 in Metz next week.
Following his two-hour, 28-minute win, Rune improved to 3-2 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with De Minaur. The 13th seed will face Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals in Paris on Saturday.
“Sascha and I had a great match in Paris, where he took it in five. I beat him one time, he took me last time,” Rune said. “He is one of the best players this year, so I will have to be very well prepared and physically recover and build on the level from this match.”
De Minaur, who was chasing his second Masters 1000 semi-final, struggled on serve during the clash. He made just 47 per cent of his first serves according to Infosys ATP Stats. Rune attacked at every opportunity and fired 24 winners en route to his second Top 10 win of the season (Grigor Dimitrov, Monte-Carlo).
Alexander Zverev became just the third active player to reach 20 ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where he overcame Stefanos Tsitsipas to end the Greek’s Nitto ATP Finals hopes.
In the latest meeting of his long-running rivalry with Tsitsipas, Zverev saved the one break point he faced and hit with aggression and purpose in the fast indoor conditions to earn a 7-5, 6-4 win after one hour and 44 minutes in the French capital.
“I thought the whole match was a very good level from him,” Zverev said. “He started off hot, had some good chances to break me in the beginning. Maybe not break point wise but game wise. I got into the match and I found my rhythm and felt more and more comfortable and am happy with the win.”
Zverev, who joins Novak Djokovic (78) and Rafael Nadal (76) as a 20-time Masters 1000 semi-finalist, also became the first player born in the 1990s to earn 100 Top 20 wins (100-101). The 28-year-old Daniil Medvedev, born in 1996, is second, holding a 99-73 record.
Zverev is chasing his seventh Masters 1000 title and second of the season, having won in Rome. After improving to 6-10 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Tsitsipas, the German will face Australian Alex de Minaur or Dane Holger Rune in the semi-finals.
“I felt like I could hit it quite hard today and against him, if you are just pushing it back, he is going to make you pay,” Zverev said on Tsitsipas. “He is someone on the forehand side who can be so aggressive and he can move forward. So I was happy to take that away.”
Tsitsipas is 11th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin but can no longer qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held from 10-17 November. Eighth-placed De Minaur (3,745 points) and 13th-placed Rune (2,825 points) are still in qualification contention.
Zverev will head to Turin next week and will chase his third title at the prestigious year-end event. The 27-year-old, who has already booked his spot in northern Italy, triumphed at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2018 and 2021.
Tsitsipas ends the season holding a 45-22, highlighted by his run to the title in Monte-Carlo. It is the first time the World No. 11 has finished the season outside the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings since 2018.
Did You Know?
Zverev is just the eighth player in history to reach 20 ATP Masters 1000 semi-finals. He joins Djokovic (78), Nadal (76), Roger Federer (66), Andy Murray (33), Andre Agassi (32), Pete Sampras (31), Andy Roddick (20).
Aryna Sabalenka is looking to cap a superb year with a first WTA Finals triumph. Here’s everything you need to know about the event – and cast your vote for the winner.
A four-time champion at Spanish ATP Tour events, Carlos Alcaraz knows all about raising his level for a home crowd. On Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, the No. 2 in the PIF ATP Rankings recognised he may have been on the receiving end of that trend from Ugo Humbert.
“I think I could play better. I think that’s obvious. But with the level that I had today, I think I compete, I gave everything,” Alcaraz said in his post-match press conference after his three-set defeat to the inspired Frenchman in Paris. “I fought until the last point. I have to congratulate Ugo. I think his performance has been really high. The way he hits the ball is unbelievable. It’s amazing.
“I think every time that he plays against me, I feel like he increases his level. He plays a really high level of tennis. I think in Paris even more so. So congratulations to him, and good luck.”
Alcaraz acknowledged that, although he generally does not favour fast conditions like those at Paris-Bercy this year, they don’t mean much without an opponent who can exploit them. Humbert produced a performance packed with clean, flat hitting that had the World No. 2 struggling from the first game.
“[It is difficult] when I play against someone like Ugo that doesn’t let you get rhythm into the match,” said Alcaraz, who will next compete at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. “He plays probably every time at his 100 per cent, really flat. So I couldn’t play a good tennis.
“I practised [indoors] at home, but it isn’t the same court, or the speed [of] court… So I wasn’t surprised about my level, about my game, but I was surprised about everything a little bit.”
While the on-court battle in the third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between Alcaraz and Humbert was exhilarating, the courtside action during the pair’s Thursday evening encounter also did not disappoint. A packed arena generated a raucous atmosphere from the opening game to the last and, although Alcaraz naturally did not receive the bulk of the support when playing against a home favourite, he was full of praise for the French crowd.
“I have had a lot of success here in Paris, so I guess a lot of [fans] support me a little bit… [I was] playing against a French player, one of the best French players that France has right now, and [the fans] were great,” reflected Alcaraz. “I had really great points where they were cheering on me a little bit. They [stood] up, clap my points. So I appreciate it, honestly, and the crowd was really respectful. It was a really good match.”
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on 12 April 2024. At the 2024 Rolex Paris Masters, Frenchman Ugo Humbert thrilled his home crowd with a memorable upset win against Carlos Alcaraz.
The top of the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin is littered with the sport’s biggest stars. Of the eight players currently holding a qualification position for the Nitto ATP Finals, seven have competed in the season finale and the other, fifth-placed Alex de Minaur, is in the world’s Top 10.
The player in ninth place is Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters quarter-finalist Ugo Humbert. The Frenchman, very much in contention for a spot in Turin, has quietly been playing the best tennis of his career and is even ahead of 12th-placed Novak Djokovic in the Live Race.
“I saw that and it was really, really funny. At the end of Dubai, my coach said ‘It’s funny, you are seventh in the race and Djokovic is eighth’. I was proud!” Humbert told ATPTour.com. “For me it’s more and more exciting because my goal is that I would like to reach the Top 10. So I am trying to find the details to achieve this goal.”
So far this season Humbert has won titles in Marseille and Dubai. The lefty’s record is 18-5 and he has only lost two matches in straight sets.
His formula for success is no secret. Humbert is performing better on both serve and return than he has on average throughout his career.
According to Infosys ATP Stats, the French No. 1 has made improvements this year in service games won (87%), buoyed by a higher rate of break points saved (68%) and second-serve points won (58%). He has also won a higher percentage of return games (21%), in part helped by a bump in second-serve return success (53%).
The 6’2” lefty has a powerful game. Humbert hits a flat ball and is unafraid of standing on top of the baseline to put pressure on his opponent. His breakthrough under coach Jeremy Chardy, once the No. 25 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, has been more mental than technical. He has been working hard at staying calm under pressure.
“Try to stay calm and really, really present on this point, on each ball,” Humbert said. “I try to repeat things that I’m confident in my choices [with] to have more chance to win the point.”
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Staying calm while trying to make progress has been part of Humbert’s life since he was a child, and not just on the tennis court. When the Frenchman was five years old, his parents had him begin taking piano lessons.
At 12, when he moved to Paris train under the French Tennis Federation, Humbert took his piano with him and played it for an hour a day. Listening to Humbert play the piano today is a thrilling experience — passers-by would think he is a musician, not a tennis player.
But for the 25-year-old, one came much easier than the other.
“Tennis for sure because it was my passion. Piano, I didn’t want to play at the beginning, but it was my parents who forced me to play,” Humbert said, cracking a laugh. “So for two or three years, of course I was terrible because you cannot play anything. And after three or four years, when I could do something, some melodies, it was a little bit better.”
Humbert also began learning the guitar at age 10, but stopped for more than five years. About two years ago, he began playing it more often and has been travelling with a Silent Guitar. Fans have enjoyed watching social media posts in which he has played the guitar and his girlfriend, WTA player Tessah Andrianjafitrimo, has sung.
“He likes playing the blues, rock and jazz music. He loves the piano, the guitar. He loves this kind of music,” Andrianjafitrimo said. “I think he has fun in it. He has so much fun, so he can relax.”
Humbert added: “For me, it’s more fun to play piano than guitar because I’m better at piano, so it’s easier to handle a little bit. But it’s nice to play some music, to think about something different, to be not in tennis every time.”
Humbert’s aggressive, front-foot game is the opposite of his laid-back personality. The Frenchman explained that even though his game appears a certain way, his mindset is not much different than when he is sitting at the piano.
“In tennis, okay, I play strong, fast. But inside I try in my mind to be really calm and really cool and really focus on what I have to do. And piano for me, it’s exactly the same,” Humbert said. “Even if I play something like Mozart, Beethoven, a classical song, it’s exactly the same. Mentally I have to be calm and focused on what I have to do.”
<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/04/12/05/51/humbert-portrait-2024.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Ugo Humbert” /> Photo: ATP Tour/Getty Images That focus has helped Humbert climb into Nitto ATP Finals contention and within striking range of the world’s Top 10.
Former World No. 10 Lucas Pouille has been happy to see the recent surge from his countryman. The 30-year-old believes Humbert still has room to grow, too.
“In his game, no limits. I think he has no limits and mentally as well,” Pouille said. “Two years ago he was feeling not so well. He went back in the rankings, outside of the Top 100. Last year, this time of year [in March], he was playing a Challenger in Pau.
“It’s always great to see a French player coming back to the top. And I think we’ve been used to having those kinds of players in the Top 10, Top 20, Top 30, Top 100. We had so many that it’s important to still have some players like this.”
Humbert is at No. 13 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings and Pouille explained his feeling that “Top 15 is the beginning for him”.
“Hopefully he can perform well in the Grand Slams soon. That’s where the big points are. That’s where he still hasn’t played as well as he wants,” Pouille said. “But I’m sure it will come soon because of the confidence he has now. I think he is one step better than he used to be.”
In a way Humbert’s ascent has been similar to his increasing comfort as a musician. Step by step he has continued to work and learn. Now, he is one of the best tennis players in the world.
“I think [it takes] time. You started when you are super young, and you started to play some tournaments. You are better and better with pressure,” Humbert said. “For me when you work hard, and you feel you are better and better and ready to go in competition, you feel less pressure.”
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