Humbert returns serve to leave Isner behind
Frenchman Ugo Humbert is through to his first ATP final after defeating John Isner 7-6 6-4 at the ASB Classic last night.
Humbert became the first player to do what no one else had achieved in Auckland this week, tame Isner’s monster serve.
The 21-year-old from Metz, was able to win a point off the American’s serve in the first set tiebreak and then break him early in the second set.
After that, he had to keep serving well himself, to not give the twotime Classic champion any chance of getting the break back.
‘‘I stayed very calm,’’ Humbert told Stuff.
‘‘I had some key words and at made me feel very calm, positive and when I served for the match I was very focussed.’’
And what were those words? ‘‘Energy, accuracy and move,’’ he said.
At 5-4 in the second set Humbert managed to serve out the match without dropping a point in that game, with Isner putting a forehand into the net on the final point.
Incredibly, Humbert won all 38 points on his first serve, a stat that showed that while his serve might not be as big as Isner’s it can be just as effective.
Humbert is one handful of promising young players who turned up to this year’s Classic and although he didn’t have the hype around him that some of the others did, he’s still alive while others have already gone to Australia.
Last year Humbert recorded victories over Borna Coric, Cameron Norrie, Gael Monfils, Felix Auger-Aliassime and David Goffin.
So he clearly has the ability to take down some of the big names in men’s tennis.
However, he had lacked consistency to compete at this level over a whole week, only able to win titles at the lower Challenger level tournaments.
But it’s looking likes his Challenger days are over and he’s set to become a force in the game in 2020.
‘‘It was at a good level, I was very focussed on the key points and I returned very well when I was on the ball," Humbert said.
Isner felt the scoreline didn’t really reflect the match as Humbert played a fair bit better than him and the young Frenchman deserved the win.
This was the first time Isner had reached the semifinals at the Classic since 2014, when he won the title.
Although he did win two matches this week, he didn’t think he’d played well.
"To be honest, this week was actually kind of a struggle," he said.
"I won two close matches and then lost tonight so I definitely feel like I could be playing better going into Australia, but I’m not right now and that’s kind of tough.
"I can look back on the fact that I’ve won two tough matches here, I’ve got to look on that and try to delete this one as quick as possible."