PARIS: After a thrilling 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 loss to local favorite Ugo Humbert on Thursday, French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated from the Paris Masters.
While Alcaraz struggled to find his rhythm, the 18th-ranked Frenchman won the first set in 26 minutes.
Spain’s world number two didn’t back down and took a 5-2 lead before holding to love to win the second set.
However, buoyed by the home crowd, Humbert prevailed over Alcaraz in the third set to become the first Frenchman since his coach Jeremy Chardy defeated Daniil Medvedev in the second round of the Paris tournament in 2019 to defeat a top-five player.
“I have to commend Ugo. He has performed exceptionally well, in my opinion. He hits the ball in such an unbelievable manner, you know. Alcaraz stated at a press conference, “It’s amazing.”
Humbert, who will win two titles in Dubai and Marseille in 2024, stated that he was “super proud of myself.”
“It was an insane match and an insane atmosphere.”
Alcaraz, who has won four Grand Slams, said that the court’s speed surprised him and was a big reason for his poor performance. He said that it had changed a lot from previous years.
“It is probably the fastest court on the tour right now in the Masters 1000. Probably the fastest in this tournament in the past decade. Alcaraz stated, “I play on the Davis Cup indoor court, and the court was much slower than this one.”
Prior to that, third seed Alexander Zverev defeated 20th-ranked Frenchman Arthur Fils 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to set up a match with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Zverev recovered from a second-set stumble to win the match.
The 10th-ranked Greek won 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2 over Argentine Francisco Cerundolo after rallying from a close first set.
Tsitsipas, 26, said, “Starting the second set, I felt like a bull.” He probably needs to make it to the Paris final to stay in the running for Turin.
Australia’s Alex de Minaur, seed nine, defeated Jack Draper, a British player, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
De Minaur now occupies the eighth and final qualifying spot for the Turin final race of the season.
“I’m going to put my body on the line, try my hardest, and demonstrate to my adversary that I can do that all day.” De Minaur stated, “I needed to bring that intensity because Jack is playing with such confidence right now, a hell of a competitor.”
Jordan Thompson, a fellow American, beat Adrian Mannarino, a Frenchman, 7-5, 7-6(5) to reach the last eight.
Alexei Popyrin of Australia, on the other hand, lost to Karen Khachanov 7-6(5), 6-4 to join his fellow countrymen.
In the quarterfinals, unseeded Russian Khachanov will play eighth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who beat Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5) after surviving a tense third set tiebreak.
Holger Rune had a hard time competing against French loser Arthur Cazaux, who had taken over for Jannik Sinner after the world champion quit due to a virus.
However, Danish 13th seed Rune won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 after coming back from a set down.
Thompson meets Humbert while Rune faces De Minaur next.
