As had already happened in the final of the Rolex Paris Masters in November 2024, Alexander Zverev defeated Ugo Humbert. The German champion had dominated their previous challenge in Paris-Bercy, while this time he had to work a little harder to reach the quarterfinals at the 2025 Australian Open.
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The current world number 2 lost the second set, the first of his tournament, but reacted well in the third and fourth sets, closing the match without too many problems. Sascha's game represents a big problem for the French ace, who does not have the right weapons to put an opponent who has important ambitions in this edition of the Happy Slam in difficulty.
Ugo has made significant progresses in recent months also thanks to the help of his coach Jeremy Chardy, but he needs a further step to get to the level of top players.
Humbert has no regrets
After his match against Zverev at Melbourne Park, Humbert commented on his performance in detail: "Sascha congratulated me at the end of our match and I want to thank him. I'm giving my best every day and trying to bring out my full potential. I don't have any big regrets, I did my best again today and I hope to get even better results in the future.
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My main goal is to get into the Top 10 and I hope to succeed as soon as possible. At the same time, ranking is not an obsession for me and I don't plan to think only about it for the rest of my career. Last year I was very frustrated at times, but now I feel more relaxed and enjoy every moment."
Ugo has time to get into the Top 10 and could succeed in this goal as early as 2025 if he continues to work in the right way. Zverev on the other hand will return to action against Tommy Paul on Tuesday. The champion from Hamburg is approaching this Grand Slam tournament with the right approach and seems to have the right mentality to finally break the curse.
