Tennis: Ugo Humbert wins the sixth title of his career in Dubai

The finals suit him so well: Ugo Humbert, uncompromising against Alexander Bublik, won the sixth in a row that he played on the circuit on Saturday in Dubai, a 100% synonymous with the 6th title, moreover the second ATP 500 of his career.

His Kazakh rival, unceremoniously dismissed 6-4, 6-3 for their first confrontation, did not weigh very heavily against the Frenchman, particularly in spirit at the end of winter. He ends a convincing week in the United Arab Emirates, which saw him dismiss in particular the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (8th in the world) after saving three match points in the quarter-final, then the Russian Daniil Medvedev (4th), defending champion, in half.

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Here is Humbert promised to be 14th in the world from Monday, his best ranking since his ATP debut in 2017. A good omen for the best current Frenchman before the Masters 1000 at Indian Wells, where he will be a top seed to watch starting Wednesday in California.

While waiting for this meeting, almost the major one of the season, the 25-year-old Messin can boast of adding Dubai to his list of achievements, which also includes the tournaments of Auckland, Antwerp (2020), Halle (2021) , already an ATP 500, from Metz (2023) at home, and from Marseille at the beginning of February. All without ever having lost when meeting on the last step.

He becomes the third player in the open era to achieve such a six out of six, after the Latvian Ernest Gulbis and the Slovakian Martin Klizan, doing better than a big name like Carlos Alcaraz, who started his harvest with a 5 /5.

Definitely "Humbert-meable" is under pressure when he has to finish the job, Ugo demonstrated it in this meeting, certainly one-sided for a long time, when Bublik obtained a break point at 5-3 and attempted a bluff by positioning himself just behind the service square, on a second ball which poses every danger for the Frenchman.

But a winning uncrossed backhand took away the Kazakh's momentary smile and Humbert closed the affair in 1h25, having had to erase two opposing break opportunities. Solid, also more aggressive and realistic, he managed to make Bublik break twice on his commitment on six occasions.

Fallen to the ground, arms crossed, and visibly happy like a kid tasting his first victory, Humbert, following in the footsteps of his compatriots Jérôme Golmard and Fabrice Santoro, winners before him in Dubai in 1999 and 2002, is for the moment the only player in 2024 to have won two tournaments, with Jannik Sinner.

He told Marseille to “watch a lot what” the Italian, impressive winner of the Australian Open at the end of January, is doing.

Whether it is in the aggressiveness he brings to his game or in the calmness he manages to demonstrate more and more regularly on the courts, it shows.