We can hardly imagine the frustration of Ugo Humbert, who came extremely close to making his way to Monte-Carlo on Tuesday. The Frenchman, 79th in the world and from qualifying, thus mastered the vast majority of his first round of the Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo, before losing cruelly to the Italian Lorenzo Sonego (45th) 3-6, 7- 5, 7-5. All after getting no less than four match points.
The 24-year-old French player first clearly dominated the first set, before serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set. But while he had never conceded his face-off before, he lost two service games in a row to allow the Italian to equalize at one set everywhere.
Stefanos Tsitsipas on the road to Benjamin Bonzi
Bis repeated in the deciding set where Ugo Humbert again served for the match at 5-4. This time, he offered himself four match points, but he did not convert any, notably sending a backhand volley into the net when he had opened the court. Lorenzo Sonego took the opportunity to equalize at 5-5.
Under pressure, the French missed a ball to equalize at 6-6 and offered a match point to Sonego on a big unforced forehand error. A final unforced error, this time on the backhand, precipitated the elimination of Ugo Humbert. More than infuriating, as a good poster was looming against the Russian Daniil Medvedev (5th) to try to reach the round of 16 in Monte-Carlo. The only Frenchman qualified for the second round in Monte-Carlo, Benjamin Bonzi (48th) must face this Tuesday the double title holder, Stefanos Tsitsipas (3rd).