At the end, will there be more than one left? Of the five French people entered in the round of 16, a record equaled in Masters 1000, Ugo Humbert qualified, Thursday October 31, for the rest of the tournament by triumphing over Carlos Alcaraz, while Adrian Mannarino, Arthur Fils and Arthur Cazaux were eliminated, pending the result of Arthur Rinderknech. Apart from Alcaraz's failure, the other favorites still involved, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas qualified for the quarter-finals.
Ugo Humbert s'offre Carlos Alcaraz
For one Halloween evening, Carlos Alcaraz will have nightmares of the Masters 1000 at Paris-Bercy. The Spaniard, big favorite in the absence of Jannik Sinner, was eliminated at the gates of the quarter-finals, his best result in the tournament. Against him, Ugo Humbert played at his best level (6-1, 3-6, 7-5). The Frenchman started the match very well, very focused, to win the first four games. He also took advantage of the 15 unforced errors from Alcaraz, who did not obtain any break points and did not win any points on his second balls in the first set.
1/8 final: Ugo Humbert's magical passing against Carlos Alcaraz
What tension on the Rolex Paris Masters court! The outcome of this 1/8 final is close between Carlos Alcaraz and Ugo Humbert and neither player wants to give up. The Frenchman wins a superb point, with a devastating passing.
But with his status as the second player in the world, the Spaniard set the sights in the second set and if Ugo Humbert held up well on his first break points conceded, he ended up breaking down to head into a third set. A highly contested decisive round, in which both players offered good points to the Bercy crowd. Very good on returns, Ugo Humbert made the difference on Carlos Alcaraz's last throw-in to break it and win the game. He will face Australian Jordan Thompson for a place in the last four, Friday at 7 p.m.
Arthur Fils gives in against Alexander Zverev
Arthur Fils beat Alexander Zverev at home in Hamburg. The German took revenge by winning against the young Frenchman in Paris (6-4, 3-6, 6-3). The world number 3 took the advantage at the end of a balanced first set, but if Arthur Fils reacted well in the second set, he made too many errors in the third set.
He came out of his match a little due to an error by the chair umpire, but without much impact on the score since another service was awarded to him, on which he scored an ace. But distracted, he failed to break away against an almost impeccable Zverev on his throws. The German will face Stefanos Tsitsipas, winner of Francisco Cerundolo, in the quarter-finals.
Arthur Cazaux pushes Holger Rune to his limits
He also took his revenge on a French player: Holger Rune beat Arthur Cazaux (3-6, 6-3, 6-4), who had beaten him at the Australian Open at the start of the year. Not successful on serve in the first set, and with too much waste in the game (14 unforced errors), the Dane woke up and raised his level in the second set. He broke from Arthur Cazaux's first throw-in and the scenario was completely reversed.
Engaged in a third set, the Frenchman lacked success on the decisive points and finally lost at the gates of the quarter-finals after replacing Jannik Sinner as lucky loser. Holger Rune will face Australian Alex De Minaur, winner of Jack Draper.
Adrian Mannarino misses his chance
Too messy, the Frenchman lacked solidity on crucial points, conceding a break at 5-5 in the first set after coming back to score and letting two equalizer balls slip away in one set all over his serve.
A fatal clumsiness illustrated by his six unforced errors (51 in total) in the tie-break of the second set which offered the match to the Australian Jordan Thompson, who will discover the quarter-finals in Masters 1000. Registered for the Metz tournament, the native of Val-d'Oise, down to 58th in the world after being No. 17 at the end of January, will try to end the season on a good note in Moselle.
