Who said Ugo Humbert didn't like clay? The 25-year-old Frenchman is perhaps having one of the best tournaments of his career this week on ocher in Monte-Carlo. This Thursday, he qualified for his first quarter-final of the Masters 1000 in the Principality by dominating Lorenzo Sonego (57th in the world) in three sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-1).
Long in difficulty against the Italian, the number 14 seed found his back against the wall after losing the first set, and finding himself facing six break points against him at the start of the second set. Once these opportunities were ruled out, Humbert continued, impeccable with his left-handed serve and some very well felt volleys.
Even closer to the Top 10
A super rise in power which confirms its progress on land. In the first two rounds, he had dismissed Federico Coria (89th in the world) then Zhizhen Zhang (49th in the world) without trembling too much even though he had not yet won a single match on Le Rocher. With these three consecutive successes, he is currently projected at 13th place in the world, his best career ranking, and even closer to a Top 10 which is now more than possible.
However, the adversity will be quite different in the quarter-finals against Casper Ruud (10th in the world), twice a finalist at Roland-Garros and a true specialist on ocher. The meeting is scheduled for the very end of the day in Monte-Carlo, and will not start before 4 p.m. In the event of victory, Humbert could find a certain Novak Djokovic in the last four, opposed to Alex De Minaur.