THE latest ATP Tour title winner is 21-year-old Frenchman, Ugo Humbert. The 57th ranked player triumphed in today’s ASB Classic over countryman, Benoit Paire in three tight sets. The win means Humbert heads to the Australian Open with a first round encounter against Aussie John Millman and plenty of confidence ahead of the clash.

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He survived a barrage of aces from Paire who put down 16 to Humbert’s four, while only having three double faults. For much of the contest, Paire seemed to be on top, with only a couple of impressive tiebreak efforts separating the players. In a match that lasted two and a half hours, Humbert won less points but stood up in crunch moments against his more experienced 30-year-old opponent.

Remarkably, Paire had a higher serve and return rating than Humbert, picked up more breaks and won most statistical categories, but the match came down to little moments, which went the way of the up-and-coming Frenchman. His first title win has seen Humbert shoot up the rankings from 57 to 43rd – a career high – moving ahead of Millman in the process.

Earlier in the day, Brit Luke Bambridge and Japan’s Ben McLachlan took out the doubles against New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and Australia’s Philipp Oswald 7-6 6-3. It was a unique situation for McLachlan – born in New Zealand – winning in his birth country for the second successive year after doing it with German Jan-Lennard Struff last year. McLachlan has claimed five doubles titles now, while Bambridge won his third title but his first outside of Europe.