Ugo Humbert picked up his second Top 10 win in 10 days and his third Lexus ATP Head2Head victory against Stefanos Tsitsipas on Monday night at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.
The Frenchman earned a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 result to advance to the last 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 for the third time (twice in 2020) and equal a personal-best 24 wins in a season (also 2020).
“I’m so happy. It’s a big win against Tsitsipas, a Top 10 player,” Humbert said after the two-hour, nine-minute match that finished after midnight. “Last week I beat [Andrey] Rublev so I feel a lot of confidence on court and I’m very proud that I won this match.
“I’m just enjoying playing tennis. It’s a big passion for me. It’s all the work during all the year. Since Davis Cup I’ve played really great tennis and I’m very happy to play like this.
Tsitsipas’ recent struggles continued in the defeat, with the Greek still unable to notch consecutive wins since his Los Cabos title in early August. But the 25-year-old remains in strong position in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, sitting in sixth place in his bid to return to the Nitto ATP Finals.
Humbert improved to 9-9 against Top 10 opponents, including a 2-4 mark this season, with his previous Top 10 win coming last week against Rublev in Beijing, where he reached the quarter-finals before a three-set defeat to Daniil Medvedev.
The Frenchman broke in the opening game against Tsitsipas and fought off four break points to serve out the opening set. The Greek took set two, also behind a single break.
The drama peaked in set three, when Humbert saw his 3-0 lead erased and battled through deuce at 4-4 before breaking in the final game of the match. A brilliant backhand pass brought up match point, before a defensive backhand found the deep corner to force an error from Tsitsipas.
Next up for Humbert is a fourth-round meeting with J.J. Wolf, a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) winner against Matteo Arnaldi earlier on Monday. Humbert is seeking his second ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final after reaching that stage on home soil in Paris in 2020.