Monte-Carlo Masters: Ruud comes through testing Humbert contest to reach semi-finals

Casper Ruud reached the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Masters courtesy of a hard-fought win over Ugo Humbert, beating the Frenchman 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at the Monte-Carlo Country Club.

After an even few opening games with both players looking to settle into the match, Ruud then broke in the fifth and ninth games to seal the opening set in convincing fashion.

The situation started to look critical for the Frenchman when he fell a break behind at the start of the second, only for Humbert to break straight back in the next game before striking again in the fifth game.

It was a significant momentum shift, as Humbert closed out the set with a confident hold to complete a fine turnaround and send the contest into a deserved decider. 

Composure always one of his greatest assets, however, Ruud was able to reset in the third. The Norwegian struck first, breaking Humbert in the fourth game to wrestle back the advantage.

With the momentum firmly behind him once again, Ruud broke again in the sixth game as Humbert’s resolve began to fade before serving out a hard-fought win.

Ruud, ranked No 10, will face Serb Novak Djokovic, the top seed, next.

“Well I watched a little bit of him today,” Ruud said of Djokovic during his on-court interview.

“Seemed like a tough one. Not going to call him vulnerable just because of that.

This is the Masters he had less success in his career even though he’s won it twice. I would like to have those numbers as well.”

Ahead of his victory, the Norwegian beat Chilean Alejandro Tabilo (6-2, 6-4) and Pole Hubert Hurkacz, the No 10 seed (6-4, 6-2).

Humbert, ranked No 15, won against Argentinian qualifier Federico Coria (4-6, 6-1, 6-2), Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (6-1, 6-4) and Italian lucky loser Lorenzo Sonego (5-7, 6-3, 6-1) in the previous rounds of the Monte-Carlo tournament.

Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other last-eight results (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 5.950.575, most recent results first):

• Novak Djokovic beat Alex De Minaur (11): 7-5, 6-4
• Jannik Sinner (2) beat Holger Rune (7): 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (12) beat Karen Khachanov (15): 6-4, 6-2