He ended up laughing, blowing kisses from the center of the court to the Swiss crowd. Was this a way for Ugo Humbert to respond to a provocation from spectators in Basel? Still, the French number 1 must have felt a certain relief on Monday when he finally got out of the trap set by the Swiss Jêrome Kym, 140th player in the world and from the qualifications, in three contested sets (6-4, 6 -7, 7-5) and 2h28 of play in the 1st round of the ATP 500 indoor tournament. For a place in the quarter-final, Messin will face David Goffin or Matteo Arnaldi.
Everything could have been done earlier for Humbert. Very serious in the face of a player who bravely tried his luck, he made the break at 3 games everywhere and then took the lead. Then, he was the only one to get a chance on the restart in the next set, before making the mini-break to enter the tie-break. But full of resources, Kym revolted, driven by an increasingly successful premiere to reset the counters to zero. Between disbelief and perhaps a desire to relax, Humbert then began to smile a lot in the direction of his clan in a 3rd act where the servers laid down the law until 6-5 for the Frenchman.
Returning further from his baseline to disrupt his opponent, Humbert reaped the rewards in this final game, notably executing a two-step passing after a return to the feet. With a 44th forehand winner (for 24 unforced errors), the Frenchman concluded a game of good quality on both sides, celebrating his victory in a very curious way, mimicking some sort of tremors with his arms. Was he tense? One thing is certain: the essential is assured with this success, all that remains is to continue as during the previous ATP 500 tournament in Beijing a few weeks ago where he reached the final.
