By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday November 2, 2024
Ugo Humbert outlasted Karen Khachanov to become the first French finalist at the Paris Masters in 13 years.
Photo Source: TTV
Let the good times roll. Or, should we say laissez les bon temps rouler?
There is a decidedly French flair in the air every year in Bercy when the Paris Masters rolls around, but this year the feeling is stronger than usual thanks to Ugo Humbert’s pulsating performance.
The 26-year-old continued his stellar run on Saturday, delighting the fans with a 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 win over Karen Khachanov that makes him the first French player to reach the tournament’s final since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2011.
Asked to explain his breakout performance, 15th-seeded Humbert sounded like an existentialist philosopher that had wandered in from the left bank of the Seine.
“It happened because I was expecting nothing,” he said.
He has reached beyond the quarterfinals of a Masters event for the first time, and will face third-seeded Alexander Zverev in the final. Zverev, who took to the practice courts after his 6-3, 7-6(4) win over 2022 Paris champion Holger Rune, isn’t too stressed about what will happen on Sunday. He says he is all about getting better for the long haul these days.
“For me, it’s about improving a few things. I feel like Jannik [Sinner] and Carlos [Alcaraz], you know, they are doing a few things better than me at the moment. I want to improve,” he said. “I want to improve not for tomorrow, not for today or, you know, because of the matches I played here. I want to generally improve for next year as well.”
Zverev defeated Humbert in a third-set tiebreak in the round of 32 last year in Paris. The pair have split their two meetings, both in three sets.
Humbert is having the time of his life, as are French fans.
“It’s genuine happiness when you have 10,000 people behind me,” he said. “Of course I draw upon them, because it’s a major asset. As I said from the beginning of the week, I play with my heart, I want to share this moment with them. I want to give something to them. They are here also to help me, to push me further, because today it was tough.”
What the Frenchman lacks in experience, he’ll try to make up for with emotion. But Zverev is into his 12th Masters final and his second in Paris (also 2020) – the German will look to use that knowledge of knowing how to close out matches at big events to his advantage.
He struggled to do it today, getting tight while serving out his win against Rune, but he was able to recover and finish strong in the second set tiebreak.
Humbert didn’t have it easy, either. He had to rally from a set down, and only pulled away from Khachanov when the Russian started struggling with a thigh injury in the back half of the second set.
Zverev will return to No.2 in the rankings with his performance this week. Humbert is up to No.14, and would surpass his career-high of No.13 with a win.
