Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship: Defending Champion Humbert Exits Early
French player Hugo Humbert, ranked 15th in the world and defending champion, was eliminated from the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championship (500 points) after losing to Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 on Wednesday.
This was Humbert’s first loss after winning six consecutive matches, specifically since his defeat to German Alexander Zverev in the round of 16 at the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Humbert won the title last year by defeating Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-3.
Humbert, who had claimed the Marseille title (250 points) ten days ago, started the match perfectly against the world’s 47th-ranked player by breaking his serve at 2-2, before saving a break point against him on his way to winning the first set 6-4.
The same scenario almost repeated in the second set, but Griekspoor avoided the break this time at 2-2 before succeeding in breaking Humbert’s serve in the following game.
Humbert, who played brilliantly against Czech player Jiri Lehecka (22) in the first round on Tuesday, lost his momentum during rallies and lost the second set 3-6.
The Dutchman, with 13 aces including three consecutively, capitalized on Humbert’s instability in the decisive third set, breaking his serve twice to lead 4-1 and eventually winning the match.
Griekspoor will face the winner of the match between Russian Daniil Medvedev (6th seed) and Frenchman Giovanni Imbitchi Pericard, who will face off later.
In other notable second-round matches, Italian Luca Nardi defeated Belgian Zizou Bergs 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), while Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime came from a set down to defeat Portugal’s Nuno Borges 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. Croatian Marin Cilic also made a comeback, beating Australian Alexei Popyrin 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
