Humbert To Face Fognini Or Ruud In Hamburg Quarter-finals

Ugo Humbert proved that his first-round victory over Daniil Medvedev was no fluke on Thursday, when the Frenchman backed it up with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over qualifier Jiri Vesely at the Hamburg European Open.

Humbert, who is currently at a career-high No. 41 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, struck 24 winners in the one-hour and 45-minute encounter at the AM Rothenbaum and now has a 5-3 record since the resumption of the ATP Tour last month. The 22-year-old awaits the winner of sixth seed and 2013 champion Fabio Fognini and Casper Ruud.

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After an early exchange of breaks, little separated Humbert and Vesely, who ultimately faded in the final three points of the 50-minute first set, which ended with the Czech striking a backhand in the net.

Humbert, who hit 14 winners in the opener, saved two break points in the first game of the second set, then defended valiantly in the next game, only to break for a 2-0 advantage with a crosscourt forehand winner. From 4-4 in the first set, Humbert stepped up and won five straight games.

Pumped up, Humbert came within a point of a 5-1 lead, but errors proved costly and Vesely found his way back to 3-4. Humbert broke for a third time, in the next game, when Vesely twice had the opportunity to strike a clean winner at 30/40. Humbert needed no second invitation and closed out his 15th victory of 2020, which began in January with his first ATP Tour title at the ASB Classic in Auckland (d. Paire).

This year, Humbert has also reached the Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com semi-finals (l. to Nishioka), the New York Open quarter-finals and last week’s Internazionali BNL d'Italia third round (l. to Shapovalov). Humbert beat Fognini 7-5, 7-6(4) in the Rome second round.

from Tennis - ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/3mLiLqy