Carlos Alcaraz lost already in the third round of the 2024 Paris Masters as an inspired Ugo Humbert stunned him in three sets.
The last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season is the one in which the young Spaniard probably struggled the most in his tennis career. He reached the third round in 2021, the quarter-finals in 2022, and lost already in his first match last year.
This year, Alcaraz started his Paris Masters journey with a win, but his second-round opponent, Ugo Humbert, who has been playing some of his best tennis lately, proved to be too strong to overcome.
It was already their third meeting this year, with Alcaraz winning both of their first two matches. He first triumphed at the Wimbledon Championships before beating the Frenchman also at the Davis Cup.
This time, however, Humbert came out firing. He was incredible early in this match, probably coming very close to his best level. Alcaraz wasn't playing at his best, but also not at his worst, and he was still only a spectator.
The French player made the Accor Arena, which hosts the Paris Masters for the last time, go wild. He broke the World No. 2's serve twice in the first five games of the match, which meant he led 5-0 after five games played.
Alcaraz was then able to end his misery, winning one game in the first set, which he adequately celebrated, but he still couldn't avoid losing the first set 1-6.
However, he didn't win four Grand Slam titles by not fighting for every point, and that's what he did in the second set. He got to some break point chances for the first time in the match in the fourth game of the second set, but he couldn't use any of his three break point opportunities.
A couple of games later, Alcaraz had another break point, which he didn't leave unused, converting it to take a 4-2 lead. After that, he controlled the remainder of the set on his serve, winning it 6-3 to force the decider.
With the loud French crowd behind Humbert, it was clear that Alcaraz would need to find his best to win this match. He did that on his serve, at least in his first five service games of the third set.
Both players held their serve, and there were no break points on offer. It seemed that the final set of this third-round match would be decided in a tie-break, but it wasn't.
When Alcaraz was serving to force the tie-break, Humbert applied pressure on his opponent, and the Spaniard helped him by hitting a double fault. This meant that the Frenchman got to two match points, leading 40-15.
Alcaraz saved one, but he couldn't save the second one, losing the match 1-6, 6-3, 5-7 to record yet another early exit from the Paris Masters. Up next, the Spaniard will focus on the ATP Finals in Turin, which will be his last tournament of the season.
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