Humbert Stuns Medvedev In Hamburg
Ugo Humbert built on a promising run at last week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Tuesday, upsetting top seed Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-3 at the Hamburg European Open.
The 22-year-old converted three of five break points to record his first Top 10 win. Last week, Humbert defeated Kevin Anderson and Fabio Fognini in straight sets to claim the first Masters 1000 victories of his career. The Frenchman’s run was ended in three sets by eventual semi-finalist Denis Shapovalov.
“I know I can play very nice on clay,” said Humbert. “Daniil is a very nice player. I am very happy with my first Top 10 win and for sure, it was one of my biggest wins today.”
This is the latest milestone moment in a breakthrough season for Humbert, who owns a 14-8 record in 2020. After finishing the 2019 ATP Tour season at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, Humbert captured his maiden ATP Tour trophy at the ASB Classic in January. The left-hander entered his first ATP Head2Head meeting against Medvedev with an 0-2 record against Top 10 players, but played without fear in crucial moments to overcome the World No. 5 after one hour and 22 minutes.
“I am very happy about my level today,” said Humbert. “I was ready to play this kind of match. I was very excited to play in front of you, [the crowd].”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Humbert will face Jiri Vesely for a spot in the quarter-finals. The Pune champion defeated Gilles Simon 7-5, 6-2 on Monday. Humbert and Vesely have not previously met at tour-level.
Medvedev was competing on clay for the first time since Roland Garros last year. The Russian entered the ATP 500 in form, having reached the Western & Southern Open quarter-finals and the US Open semi-finals in New York.
Fabio Fognini recovered from a set down to overcome home favourite Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. The 2013 champion claimed his first victory since undergoing arthroscopic surgery on both ankles in May to improve to 17-7 at the ATP 500 event. Fognini will meet Rome semi-finalist Casper Ruud or Benoit Paire for a spot in the quarter-finals.
Karen Khachanov rallied from 0-3 down in the final set to beat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-5. The Russian converted five of nine break points against Struff, who served for the match at 5-4, to record his second win in three ATP Head2Head contests against the German. Each of the pair’s three meetings have required a final set.
The eighth seed will next play 2019 Monte Carlo finalist Dusan Lajovic, who beat Adrian Mannarino 6-4, 6-1. Lajovic broke the Frenchman’s serve five times in his one-hour, 37-minute victory.
Koolhof/Mektic Save Match Point Against Ram/Salisbury
Wesley Koolhof/Nikola Mektic and Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury are two of the most in-form doubles teams on the ATP Tour and they showed why with a tight battle in Hamburg Tuesday. Koolhof/Mektic, the recent US Open finalists, saved one match point to prevail against the reigning Australian Open champions 6-4, 6-7(0), 12-10. They will next play home favourites Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, the reigning Roland Garros titlists.
Also advancing were Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic, who eliminated lucky losers Marvin Moeller and Milan Welte 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. Their next opponents are qualifiers Radu Albot and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi. In the other doubles match of the day, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau advanced when Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah retired at 6-6 due to a Cabal right hip injury.