Ugo Humbert claims Carlos Alcaraz upset at Paris Masters
The home favorite scored his first win in three tries over the former world No. 1 in a dramatic final set at the Rolex Paris Masters.
Ugo Humbert thrilled the home crowd at the Rolex Paris Masters with a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory over Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday.
The reigning Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion had between Humbert twice in 2024 but came up just short against the No. 15 seed, the No. 2 seed bowing out after two hours and 16 minutes on Center Court.
Alcaraz shook off an early exit from the US Open with a scintillating start to the fall, leading Team Europe to victory at Laver Cup and surviving Jannik Sinner in a match-of-the-year contender final at the China Open.
Since winning in Beijing, the former world No. 1 has slowed down somewhat, enduring a straight-set defeat to Tomas Machac at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. After opening in Paris with a win over Nicolas Jarry, he started slow in his second match and won just one game in the first set against Humbert, who had only won back-to-back matches just once since losing to Alcaraz in the fourth round of Wimbledon.
Still, Humbert had pushed Alcaraz to four sets on grass and set to work at closing the deal on the Spaniard in front of his home crowd, rallying from the second set to battle through a tense decider as night fell in Paris-Bercy.
With little to separate the two after 11 games, Humbert made his move on Alcaraz’s serve, opening up a 0-30 lead with a backhand passing shot and a double fault from his higher-ranked opposition.
A rowdy crowd looked to help Humbert over the finish line but required a chiding from the umpire as Alcaraz got on the board. The Frenchman recovered to earn two match points when Alcaraz erred long, and though Alcaraz saved one with an ace, Humbert outrallied his rival on the second to secure the biggest win of his career.
Up next for Humbert is Aussie Jordan Thompson, who backed up his win over No. 7 seed Casper Ruud by stopping French wild card Adrian Mannarino, 7-5, 7-6 (5) to reach his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal.
