Humbert Knocks Out Alcaraz to Join Zverev and Tsitsipas in Paris Masters Quarterfinals

Frenchman Ugo Humbert harnessed the energy of the home crowd and produced one of his best career performances in beating Carlos Alcaraz 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters on Thursday.
A flurry of forehand and backhand winners had Alcaraz 5-0 down in a first set so one-sided that Alcaraz — a four-time Grand Slam winner — ironically waved his racket and grinned to the crowd after holding in the sixth game.
“There were some incredible points, I think I have just experienced one of my greatest moments on a tennis court," The Associated Press quoted Humbert as saying. "I don't want it to end here."
The second-seeded Alcaraz controlled the second set but, after missing chances during the third set, served to stay in the match. The crowd jeered a replayed point but Alcaraz was unperturbed and held comfortably for 5-5.
Sensing a big upset, Humbert got the Bercy Arena crowd going in the next game.
The 26-year-old left-hander looked like he was about to do a lap of honor after a brilliant forehand pass down the line at full stretch and earned ovations following a superb angled volley and a booming winner that flew past his Spanish opponent.
“I have to congratulate Ugo. His performance has been really high,” Alcaraz said. “The way he hits the ball is unbelievable.”
Alcaraz said Hubert deserved victory, but added that the unusually high speed of the court made it more difficult for him — especially with the low trajectory of Humbert's shots.
“The stats came out that this is the fastest court in the Masters 1000, probably on the tour,” the 21-year-old Spaniard said. “For example, the Davis Cup indoor court (was) way slower."
A rattled-looking Alcaraz trailed 0-30 in the 12th game. Umpire Richard Haigh intervened to calm the crowd, urging them not to cheer when Alcaraz made a fault on serve and then said in English “Guys, you're affecting both players.”
Serving again to stay in the match at 15-40, Alcaraz saved one match point but returned long on the next as the 15th-seeded Humbert set up a last-eight contest with Australian Jordan Thompson.
Eighth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov beat Arthur Rinderknech 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (5) to have an outside chance of reaching the season-ending ATP Finals. Dimitrov, who served 17 aces, needs to reach Sunday's final and next faces 2018 champion Karen Khachanov.
Earlier, Alexander Zverev silenced the raucous home crowd, beating French prospect Arthur Fils 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
The third-seeded German compiled 16 aces compared to nine for the 20-year-old Fils in their first indoor meeting.
“I am happy I hung in there today,” Zverev said. “He is a great player and has improved a lot this year. I am looking forward to the next few battles we are going to have.”
Zverev, the French Open runner-up, saved three break points in serving for the match at 5-3.
“The atmosphere here is a lot louder than at Roland Garros,” the 27-year-old Zverev said. “The crowd is on top of you.”
He next plays 10th-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas in their 16th career meeting, with Tsitsipas 10-5 up.
The big-serving Greek earlier rallied to beat Francisco Cerundolo 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-2 to stay in contention to qualify for next month’s Finals in Turin, the year-end tournament gathering the season's top eight players.
Although Tsitsipas hit nine aces and saved all three break points, he converted only three of his 11 break-point chances.
In other third-round matches, ninth-seeded Alex De Minaur kept up his chances of reaching the Finals with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory against Britain's Jack Draper, the U.S. Open semifinalist, and 2022 champion Holger Rune edged out lucky loser Arthur Cazaux 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Khachanov won 7-6 (5), 6-4 against Alexei Popyrin and Thompson advanced to the first Masters quarterfinal of his career by beating veteran Adrian Mannarino 7-5, 7-6 (5).
Top-ranked Jannik Sinner pulled out of the Paris Masters as did the record seven-time champion Djokovic.

Bayern Munich have enough talented players to replace injured striker Harry Kane, starting on Tuesday with their German Cup round of 16 tie against holders Bayer Leverkusen, coach Vincent Kompany.

The England captain, who has netted 20 goals across all competitions this season and leads the Bundesliga scorers' list with 14, suffered a thigh muscle injury in Saturday's 1-1 league draw at Borussia Dortmund.

Kane is expected to be out for a couple of weeks but Kompany said he hoped he could still return to action before the winter break starts on Dec. 22. Bayern are top of the Bundesliga with a four-point lead over Eintracht Frankfurt.

"It is difficult to say at this moment but there is a chance for him to still play this year," Kompany told a press conference on Monday.

"But he will miss several games and to replace him, you know you cannot replace the goals or the player one-for-one. That's why he is a top player."

Kompany said players like Thomas Mueller, Serge Gnabry, Michael Olise and Leroy Sane had enough experience to fill the gap.

"We have talent in the team and need to solve it differently. We won't be lacking talent tomorrow but it will look different," Kompany said.

"We have many options. Thomas Mueller, Mathys Tel, Gnabry, Olise, Leroy. I now named almost everyone. Obviously, Harry has scored 20 goals... but we have dangerous players in attack."

Bayern last won the German Cup in 2020 and have failed to get past the quarter-finals since, losing in the second round in three of the past four seasons.

"We play the Cup holders tomorrow. One of the top two or three games in Germany, and I hope our performance will match the importance of the game," Kompany said.

Humbert Knocks Out Alcaraz to Join Zverev and Tsitsipas in Paris Masters Quarterfinals