A RAUCOUS home crowd got Frenchman Ugo Humbert over the line against world number two Carlos Alcaraz to reach the quarter finals of the Paris ATP 1000 Masters. Humbert produced some lights out tennis, motivated by the fans driving him to a 6-1 3-6 7-5 epic victory.

He looked to be doing it easy against Alcaraz early as the Spaniard looked uncharacteristically off the pace, before Alcaraz hit back with a strong second set. In one of the matches of the year, Humbert went toe-for-toe with the second seed and top ranked player in Paris, eventually pulling away to win with a late break and hold of serve in the deciding set.

Fans were left starstruck early when Humbert won the first five games of the match, and though at times Alcaraz looked like running over the top of the Frenchman and spoiling the party, the naturally gifted world number 18 held his nerve to enjoy the win in Paris.

“I’m just super proud of myself that I did it,” Humbert said post-match. “It was a crazy match, a crazy atmosphere. Maybe my last in Bercy [before the tournament moves to a new venue from next year], so I tried to do everything tonight. It was a really big match.”

Taking two hours and 17 minutes to close out the match, the victory marked his equal career-best win, having also defeated a then world number two Daniil Medvedev at the 2022 ATP Cup. Humbert admitted it was a tough contest but he wanted to go out there with no regrets.

“I went for every shot,” he said. “That’s why I think I had less energy in the second set and in the third it was a mountain that was with me from the beginning of the third set to the end. I trusted myself in big moments and I made some big shots.”

Humbert will face Aussie Jordan Thompson in the third round after he overcame another Frenchman in veteran and wildcard, Adrian Mannarino, 7-5 7-6. It marked the first time Thompson will compete in a Masters 1000 quarter final.

Thompson was joined in the last eight by fellow Australian and ninth seed Alex de Minaur who defeated Brit Jack Draper in a thrilling 5-7 6-2 6-3 triumph and temporarily take eighth spot in the ATP Race. He will take on Danish 13th seed Holger Rune up next, after Rune defeated Arthur Cazaux. Other local hopes Arthur Fils and Arthur Rinderknech were gallant in their defeats, going down to seeded talents Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov respectively.

In other results, 10th seeded Greek star Stefanos Tsitsipas moved into the quarter finals with a 6-7 6-4 6-2 triumph over Argentinian Francisco Cerundolo, while Karen Khachanov‘s ripping form rolled on with a 7-6 6-4 victory over Aussie Alexei Popyrin who had put away Khachanov’s countryman Medevedev the day before.