French No.1 Ugo Humbert, 15th in the world, reversed a very bad situation to dismiss the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (57th) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, Thursday at the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo.
In three previous participations, not counting 2019 where he lost in qualifying, Humbert had never won a single match in the main draw of this tournament. This year, he is the last Frenchman still in the running and will have the opportunity to reach the semi-finals, provided he beats the Norwegian Casper Ruud (10th), double finalist at Roland-Garros, on Friday.
Trailing 7-5, 2-2 and 0/40 on his serve, Humbert first saved these three consecutive break points, then two more before keeping his put in play. He didn't know it yet, but the Italian had just missed his chance.
From 3-3 in this second set, the Frenchman got his hands on the match: he won five games in a row to equalize at one set everywhere and come away 2-0 in the decisive set. Then he achieved the double break to lead 4-1 and no longer gave Sonego the slightest chance.
The Italian, beaten in the second round of qualifying, was drafted at the last moment to replace Carlos Alcaraz who announced his withdrawal due to injury on Tuesday. As a result, the Italian entered the fray in place of the world No.3 directly in the second round of the main draw where he beat the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime before meeting Humbert in the round of 16.