Excellent Humbert brushes aside Shevchenko to win Moselle Open title
The Frenchman won the fourth title of his career to close his season with a trophy, ending Shevchenko’s hopes of a first ATP title win
Ugo Humbert competes at the 2023 Davis Cup © News Images / Panoramic
Ugo Humbert has won the Moselle Open title, making quick work of Alexander Shevchenko in the final to beat the Russian 6-3, 6-3 at the Arènes de Metz.
It is the Frenchman’s fourth career title and his first of 2023, meaning he finishes his season with a trophy under his belt at his final tournament of the year.
In doing so, Humbert makes his debut appearance inside the world’s top 20, while also ensuring he finishes as the year-end French No 1 for the first time in his career – and he did it all in front of a delighted crowd in his home town of Metz.
Clinical Humbert sprints to the title
Shevchenko was playing in his first tour-level final, having never previously been past the quarter-final stage. It’s been a breakthrough week for the Russian but, apart from some late pressure on Humbert’s serve, he rarely looked like troubling a hugely impressive Humbert in the final.
A break in the first set and two in the second, all without reply, were enough to earn Humbert a season-closing title in front of friends and family in his home town.
“It was my dream when I was young to win this tournament,” Humbert said in his post-match on-court interview.
“Just amazing, I have a lot of feelings now. I can’t describe it. It’s so incredible to win here, in my home town, in front of my family.
“To finish strong like this, it’s just an amazing thing.”
The 25-year-old has had a wonderful renaissance in the final stretch of the year, making frequent runs to the later stages of tournaments all while playing a swash-buckling and attractive brand of attacking tennis and taking out some big names in the process.
A quarter-final run to the Shanghai Masters, before a semi-final finish in Basel and a superb display against Alexander Zverev in Paris paved the way for this week’s title triumph in Metz.
Humbert has been dialled-in throughout the tournament, playing devastatingly well against Fabio Fognini in the semi-finals, having also dispatched a resurgent Dominic Thiem two rounds earlier.
He is a thoroughly deserving champion and gets his reward for two months of excellent form.
While a holiday, a good rest and then a productive off-season are all in order for the world No 23, thoughts will already be turning to next year, and what promises to be a hugely exciting 2024 for this supremely talented Frenchman.
