Germany’s Alexander Zverev won the Paris Masters on Sunday by defeating home hope Ugo Humbert 6-2, 6-2 in a dominant display by the new world No. 2.
Zverev, 27, now boasts seven ATP 1000-level titles over the course of his career, following two wins in Rome and Madrid, as well as victories in Montreal and Cincinnati, Ohio.
It was a happy return to Paris for Zverev, after he lost the French Open final in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz in June. Four years ago, he lost the 2020 Paris Masters championship match to Daniil Medvedev.
Photo: AFP
His victory in Saturday’s semi-final meant the current world No. 3 will overtake Spain’s Alcaraz in the new updated rankings.
The German is to next play the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, from Sunday to Sunday next week, in which he would seek to emulate his past successes in 2018 and 2021 at the Tour’s season-ending showpiece.
For 26-year-old Humbert it was a chastening experience at the end of a week that would live long in his memory, as he reached his career-first Masters final on home soil.
The world No. 18 stunned four-time Grand Slam winner Alcaraz in the last 16.
If Humbert had any nerves at the start of his first 1000-level title match, he did not show them as he held serve in the opening game with a sublime forehand passing shot at full stretch.
However, the sheer power of the German soon wore him down as Zverev forced a break point in the third game, which he converted as Humbert netted.
A second consecutive break for Zverev handed him a 4-1 lead and with that the first set.
Zverev was firmly in control of the match, making just four unforced errors to his opponent’s 17 in the opener.
As if to compound this, Humbert started the second set with a double fault as Zverev immediately moved into a 1-0 lead.
Zverev continued to grind his opponent down with his big serve and punishing groundstrokes, despite the efforts of the partisan crowd to boost Humbert.
However, the Frenchman could make no headway on the German’s service games, winning only four points on return in the second set, and did not manage to hold one of his own until the fifth game.
Zverev then served out to claim his second Masters trophy of the season.
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