MELBOURNE (Reuters) – World number two Alex Zverev overcame a mid-match wobble and the baseline power of Ugo Humbert to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 6-1 2-6 6-3 6-2 win on Sunday.
Zverev was knocked off his stride in the second set by the lefthanded Frenchman, who he beat soundly in the final of the Paris Masters last year.
But the rangy German found solace in his serve and finished the match in a hail of winners to set up a quarter-final with American Tommy Paul.
“He’s an incredibly tough player,” Zverev said of 14th seed Humbert.
“I think in the last few months he did so many steps forward.
“He has a big chance of becoming a top 10 player soon. Incredible player, incredible match and I’m happy to be in the quarter-finals only losing one set.”
Zverev started superbly against Humbert, serving up a storm and blasting winners for fun to break the Frenchman three times in a 22-minute first set.
But there was not a hint of concern from Humbert’s side of the court.
The stolid 26-year-old simply pressed the reset button and turned the match at 2-2 in the second set, smashing through Zverev’s defences after five break points in a thrilling game.
Rattled, Zverev dropped serve a second time before Humbert levelled the match with a wide serve that beat Zverev’s backhand.
The match swung again as Zverev shored up his defence and Humbert wavered on serve after nine games of near-flawless tennis.
Breaking Humbert to lead 5-3 with a sharp crosscourt return, Zverev served out the third set to love.
There was no third wind for Humbert, though, as he dropped serve again with an unforced error to trail 3-1 in the fourth set.
Though Humbert had a chance to level serve at 3-2 after earning a break point with a ferocious forehand passing shot, Zverev produced an imperious second serve down the ‘T’ to cancel the threat.
He followed up with another backhand rocket on return to break Humbert again on the way to a win that suggested he is well recovered from a bicep injury that impacted his preparations.
“A week ago I was very unsure of my level and very unsure of my tennis,” he said.
“I couldn’t really prepare the way I wanted to … but I definitely want to play three more matches here, so we’ll see how that goes.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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