Alexander Zverev added another good win this week at the 2023 Paris Masters, defeating Ugo Humbert after barely overcoming Marton Fucsovics previously.
This one comes against the native player, and if you know anything about French players, then it's their love of playing on home soil. Humbert played a very good match overall but was simply not sharp enough for Zverev when it really came down to it.
The German opted for a more reserved approach initially, allowing Humbert to take the initiative in most rallies. It didn't work out so well for the French player as he struggled to keep his errors on the lower side, which was necessary.
Zverev's tactics paid off because he had his serve working well enough to escape some of the tricky situations he faced. On return, Zverev did just enough to create several chances, hoping that one of them would be converted.
He had plenty of chances in the first set that he wasted, but he only needed one and got it to win the set 6-4. Humbert had nine break points in total in the first set, but the serve of Zverev showed up in the big moments, which was crucial.
The second set came a bit easier because Humbert missed far more in this one compared to the first one. That was until he started hitting and broke Zverev in the game when the German was serving for the match.
Humbert then forced a tie-break, which he actually won, sending the match into the third set. He started it much better than Zverev, taking an early break, but the German would fight back.
The match once again ended up in a tiebreak, and this time around, it was Zverev who once again came out on top despite trailing early in the tiebreak.
Overall, it was just a solid performance from Zverev, who moves on to face Stefanos Tsitsipas in the next round after the Greek bested Felix Auger-Aliassime earlier today. The final score was 6-4 6-7(3) 7-6(5) for Zverev.
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