Ugo Humbert grabs Marseille wild card to debut in front of home fans
The 20-year-old Ugo Humbert will compete in his eight ATP tournament in a career next week, securing Marseille wild card to join Karen Khachanov, Borna Coris and Stefanos Tsitsipas at Open 13 Provence. The young Frenchman is currently ranked 88th after gaining almost 300 places in the last 12 months, winning Switzerland F2 Futures in Bellevue in this week in 2018 ranked 368th! The Metz native had made stellar progress since then, improving every element in his game and establishing himself as a respectable Challenger player in July when he won 13 out of 15 matches in back-to-back weeks! Ugo lost finals in Gatineau and Granby before heading to Spain where he conquered Segovia for the maiden Challenger title that pushed him inside the top-150 for the first time.
Armed with a huge boost, the youngster qualified for the main draw at the US Open, reaching the second round where he challenged Stan Wawrinka before losing in four sets. By the end of the season, Ugo claimed two indoor Challenger titles in Ortisei and Andria, making a debut at Paris Masters and finishing the year just outside the top-100, only because of the ITF changes. Ugo qualified for the main draw in Brisbane at the beginning of 2019, winning a match in Auckland and suffering a heartbreaking defeat to Jeremy Chardy in the first round of the Australian Open in four hours and four minutes. He was the semi-finalist in Quimper Challenger before another tight loss in Montpellier against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, being a few points away from victory against the eventual champion.
Humbert is in Cherbourg this week, reaching the quarter-final as the top seed after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alexei Vatutin, seeking a career-high ranking before another ATP tournament in Marseille next week. A left-hander has undoubtedly been one of the players to watch in the years to come and he will not need invitations if he continues to play at this level in the next couple of months, hoping to establish himself as the top-50 player and become a contender for ATP titles in the rest of the season.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2TUlzmA
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