Tennis: Ugo Humbert wins his sixth title in Dubai and will join the Top 15

Un joli titre pour le Messin. MAXPPP – MAST IRHAM

Le numéro un Français Ugo Humbert s'est adjugé le tournoi ATP 500 de Dubaï, son sixième titre en autant de finales disputées sur le circuit, en battant 6-4, 6-3 le Kazakh Alexander Bublik, samedi.

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 the season ;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), holding of the title, in half.

🇫🇷😍 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗲𝘂𝗿 𝗨𝗴𝗼 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘁 ! Sixième finale et sixième titre pour le Français, sacré à Dubaï après sa victoire contre Alexander Bublik (6-4, 6-3) ! #DTFTennis #HomeOfTennis pic.twitter.com/1t5cQHHrK9

— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) March 2, 2024

 Here Humbert is promised at 14th place in the world from Monday, his best ranking since his debut at the ATP 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 Auckland tournaments , from Antwerp (2020), from Halle (2021), already an ATP 500, from Metz (2023) at home, and from Marseille at the beginning of February.

"Humbert-meable"

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, in fact doing better than a big name like Carlos Alcaraz, who started his harvest with a 5/5.

Decidedly "Humbert-méable" has pressure when you have 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 backhand took away the Kazakh's momentarily regained smile and Humbert completed 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 ;hour the only player in 2024 to have won two tournaments, with Jannik Sinner.

He had entrusted to Marseille "to look a lot at what" the Italian, impressive winner of the Australian Open at the end of January. 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.