By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 1 hour ago, Updated now
Ugo Humbert. Denis Balibouse / REUTERS
The last Frenchman in the running, the 15th in the world failed to overthrow Casper Ruud (6-3, 4-6, 6-1), who advanced to the semi-finals.
Casper Ruud, finalist at Roland-Garros in 2022 and 2023, put an end to the good run of Ugo Humbert (15th in the world) on Friday in the quarter-finals of the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo where the Frenchman had never before won the lesser match. The last Habs in the running resisted but the Norwegian (10th) won 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and will face world No. 1 Novak Djokovic on Saturday for a place in the final.
“It’s always very hard to play as Ugo, whatever the surface”commented Ruud, happy to have recovered in the third set after losing “a little tangled” in the second. Before this quarter-final, Humbert led 3-1 in their confrontations, but the Norwegian had won their only duel so far on clay, in 2020 in Hamburg.
To date, Ruud, who also played the final of the US Open in 2023, has his best result in Monte-Carlo, a semi-final lost against Andrey Rublev in 2021. For his part, Humbert had never passed the least lap in three previous appearances in Monte-Carlo, not counting his defeat in qualifying in 2019.
Ruud calmly pocketed the first set and broke away 2-0 in the second, seeming to finish the game without trembling. But Humbert held on and scored ten consecutive points to go from 0-2 to 3-2 with a break in his favor. A lead that he retained until the end to take the match into a decisive round which, however, quickly turned in favor of his opponent.
The next round against Djokovic inevitably promises to be complicated, but Ruud reminds us that he has no “nothing to lose” since he doesn’t have it “never beaten” in five confrontations to date, the last dating back to the Roland-Garros final last year. “I’m going to go and rest and come back relaxed on Saturday”he assured.
2024-04-12 18:47:38
#Ugo #Humbert #stopped #Casper #Ruud #MonteCarlo #quarterfinals
