World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz acknowledged that he “was not up to the level” of France’s 18th-ranked Ugo Humbert, who stunned the Spanish superstar on Thursday by defeating him in the third round of the Paris Masters. After losing twice against Alcaraz earlier in 2024, left-handed Humbert defeated the French Open and Wimbledon champion 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to record his first victory over the champion. Alcaraz had to overcome a 0–5 deficit in the opening set before he could score, thus it was a tough night for him.
The match was quite fierce. I had some reservations about my game at first. It wasn’t easy to get into the game against a player who attacks whenever he can and hits quite forcefully at the first chance,” Alcaraz said.
“I couldn’t match his level of performance. Ugo gave an excellent performance. He hits the ball in an amazing manner.
Humbert declared himself “super proud of myself” after winning two titles in 2024 from Marseille and Dubai.
It was an insane battle with an insane atmosphere.
Alcaraz, 21, has had a wild second half of the season following his devastating defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Paris Olympics final.
He lost to world number 33 Tomas Machac in the Shanghai Masters quarterfinals, defeated top-ranked Jannik Sinner in the Beijing final, and was eliminated in the second round of the US Open by 74th-ranked Botic van de Zandschulp.
Humbert then competes against Jordan Thompson of Australia to get to the Paris Masters semifinals.
On Thursday, the French number one defeated Alcaraz 28–23, despite both players making 38 unforced mistakes.
For the first time, 28-year-old Thompson advanced to the Masters quarterfinals.
On Thursday, the French number one defeated Alcaraz 28–23, despite both players making 38 unforced mistakes.
Thompson, ranked at number 28, defeated Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), to go to the quarterfinals of a Masters for the first time.
Alex de Minaur, the ninth seed, overcame Britain’s in-form Jack Draper 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, bolstering his hopes of becoming the first Australian to reach the ATP Tour Finals since Lleyton Hewitt 20 years ago.
With the victory, De Minaur secured the eighth and last qualifying position for the end-of-season championship in Turin.
I’m going to risk my life, give it my all, and prove to my opponent that I can do that all day. Jack is playing so confidently ight now and is a fierce opponent, so I have to bring that intensity,” De Minaur said.
He then takes against Denmark’s 13th-seeded Holger Rune, who defeated French lucky loser Arthur Cazaux 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Stefanos Tsitsipas fought back from a set down to defeat Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-7 (1/7), 6-4, 6-2, saying he felt like a “bull” as he maintained his faint hopes of making it to the ATP Tour Finals.
In order to advance to the semi-finals, the 11th-ranked Greek will next take on world number three Alexander Zverev, who overcame Arthur Fils of France 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
In the final, Zverev served for the match at 5-3 and survived three break points while firing 16 aces.
In his 31st Masters quarterfinal, the German sensation will take on Tsitsipas, who has prevailed in 10 of their 15 encounters.
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The 2018 Paris champion Karen Khachanov of Russia defeated Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, and will now play either Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria or Arthur Rinderknech of France.