UP-AND-COMING Frenchman, Ugo Humbert has stunned the number two seed and in-form Canadian, Denis Shapovalov in the quarter finals of the ASB Classic yesterday to move through to the final four today. The young guns had only played once before yesterday, with the world number 13 getting up on clay in three sets last year, but this time it was the 21-year-old from France who stole the show with a 7-5 6-4 performance to book a semi-finals place.

The match took just under 90 minutes to complete with Humbert serving seven aces to five and protected his serve well by saving all four break point opportunities for Shapovalov. The Canadian is difficult to penetrate when on song with his serve – winning 81 per cent of his first serves, but Humbert was helped out by the fact his opponent was inconsistent with his serving, only putting the ball in court off a first serve 55 per cent of the time which included six double faults. It allowed Humbert to break twice – once in each set which was enough to help the Frenchman move into the next round.

It was not as good news for Humbert’s Round 1 opponent in the Australian Open, John Millman with the Aussie going down in three sets to fifth seed Frenchman, Benoit Paire. In true Millman style, he was not going down without a fight, taking the first set 6-3, before Paire’s class shown through, dominating the second set to break twice, before breaking a third time in the deciding set to secure a tough 6-3 1-6 6-4 win. Paire was too consistent when on-song, putting down 13 aces and winning 80 per cent of his first serve points, able to eventually break down the defensive wall of Millman despite the Australian creating six break point opportunities in the match. Millman only took the one – in the first set – and while he performed strongly against the Frenchman, it was Paire who moved through to the final four to set up a date with Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

If Millman is considered a difficult player to beat, spare a thought for Hurkacz with the six seed having to grind out an incredibly tough win against the ageing class of Feliciano Lopez. The Spaniard continues to be an absolute headache when his serve is on song, slamming home 18 aces, but also eight double faults, winning 82 per cent of his first serves, but only 43 per cent of his seconds serves. It was here where Hurkacz took advantage, breaking Lopez three times from 10 attempt, while only allowing Lopez the one opportunity. This consistency on serve from the sixth seed Pole was enough for him to move through to the semi-final after two hours and 11 minutes, winning 6-4 6-7 6-4, including a 13-11 second set tiebreaker which would have been ultra frustrating for the higher ranked player to be forced into a third set.

If anyone is ever talking impenetrable on serve, then usually John Isner is one of the first names to pop up into the conversation. When he is putting down 20-plus aces in a couple of sets, any opponent is going to be in trouble. On this occasion it was Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund, who to be fair, served six aces of his own and won 83 per cent of his first serve points and 62 per cent of his second serve points. Those kind of numbers are usually more than enough to win, especially when you get a chance at the American’s second serve with Isner winning only 44 per cent of his second serve points. The problem? That was only 25 points as Isner won 56 of his 76 points, including 25 from aces and an ability to just dig himself out of a hole which was exemplified by saving a whopping nine break points. In the end, neither player was broken, but it was the big serving American who held on in two tiebreakers to win, 7-6 7-6 – both of which were 7-5 in those tiebreakers.

The two ASB Classic semi-finals will be played this evening, with Isner and Humber up first followed by Hurkacz and Paire going head-to-head for a spot in the final.

Day 4 Results:

Ugo Humbert (FRA) defeated [2] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) 7-5 6-4
[4] John Isner (USA) defeated Kyle Edmund (GBR) 7-6 7-6
[5] Benoit Paire (FRA) defeated John Millman (AUS) 3-6 6-1 6-4
[6] Hubert Hurkacz (POL) defeated Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 6-4 6-7 6-4