Taylor Fritz, the top seed, has won more matches than any other player on the ATP Tour since the start of the grass court season. But the top-ranked American had his progress slowed on Thursday in Basel as Ugo Humbert demolished him in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals.
Fritz took a lifetime 2-0 record into Thursday’s match with the Frenchman, but the world number 24 is an absolute beast on a hard indoor court and his tennis matched his reputation as he improved to 10-1 on hard indoor courts this season, and 15-2 on hard indoor courts since the start of his run to the Paris Masters final last year.
The 6-3, 6-4 win marks Humbert’s first Top 20 win of the season and his sixth career Top 5 win (6-7) – his first since defeating then-No.2 Carlos Alcaraz in Paris last year.
Humbert hit 20 winners against 18 unforced errors, including eight winners and three unforced errors in an outstanding second set.
The 27-year-old saved both break points he faced and won 55 per cent of second serve return points as he broke the top American three times.
Fourth-ranked Fritz drops to 51-20 on the season overall.
Since the start of the ATP, the player has won more matches than Humbert on hard indoor courts (21-4).
Humbert will face Reilly Opelka, who defeated Botic Van de Zandschulp 7-6 (5), 6-7 (7), 6-3, in a rematch of a match that was also played in the qualifying round (Opelka won 6-4 6-4).
In other action Casper Ruud defeated Stan Wawrinka, 6-4, 7-6(5), coming from a set down in both sets to set up a quarter-final clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
“It’s an honor to play Stan and it’s incredible to watch him play,” Ruud said of the 40-year-old. “He still plays at such a high level.”
Jaume Munar defeated Ben Shelton 6-3, 6-4 to improve to 3-0 against the American, while Felix Auger-Aliassime (v. Cilic, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2)) and Denis Shapovalov (v. Royer 7-6 (3), 6-2) also advanced.
