Humbert stuns Medvedev, Bublik enters final in Dubai
Rublev insisted he was speaking in English and that he did not use any foul language but the 26-year-old was defaulted. He tried to convince Bley and ATP supervisor Herfel to continue play but the call was made and the match was over
Ugo Humbert stunned defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the semi-final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Friday.
The fith seed from France took one hour and 50 minutes to beat World No. 4 7-5, 6-3 at the Centre Court.
In the opening set, both players held serve. However, cracks began to show in Medvedev’s game as he faced, and eventually saved, the first break point. Humbert soon found himself under pressure too, but managed to fend off a break chance of his own. Finally, Humbert capitalised on an opening to snatch the first break of the set.
The second set followed a similar patern, with Humbert grabbing an early break. But the 2021 Us Open champion broke back immediately to keep himself in the hunt. Despite Medvedev’s struggles and Humbert’s inspired play, the set remained on a knife- edge.
Humbert fought off three break points to hold serve; later, he seized the momentum, consolidating the break and closing out the match with a convincing victory.
“I played the perfect match today,” said the Marseille Open winner.
“One of my best matches. It is never easy to play against Daniil (Medvedev), but I was ready to play some rallies,” Humbert added.
Earlier, Andrey Rublev paid the price for his fiery temper. The first semi-final took a surprising turn when the second seed was disqualified ater screaming in the face of a line judge during his heated clash with Alexander Bublik.
In a tumultuous match marked by frustrations directed towards officials from both semi-finalists, the 2022 champion found himself defaulted by the chair umpire due to unsportsmanlike conduct.
He had led Bublik 7-6, 6-7, 4-2 and held three break points to move a game away from the final.
But Bublik, who received a warning earlier in the set for smashing his racket, clawed his way back. The clash against Bublik was tightly contested, with the seventh seed batling back from a deficit in the final set to lead 6-5.
However, tensions rose throughout the match, with the Russian already expressing frustration towards umpire Miri Bley and even smashing his racquet.
The situation reached a boiling point when the World No. 5 directed a scream at a linesman during a change of ends.
Later, a Russian-speaking official informed Bley and tournament supervisor Roland Herfel that Rublev had shouted an obscenity in Russian at the linesman.
Herfel and the official subsequently approached Rublev, who not only refuted the accusation but also maintained that he had not been speaking Russian at the time of the incident.
As a consequence, Rublev is set to forfeit all points and prize money earned this week during the tournament.
This victory secures Bublik’s debut in the top 20, making him the first Kazakh man to achieve this feat in the ATP rankings.
The rollercoaster match saw Rublev bounce back from an early disadvantage in the first set, eventually winning the tiebreak. The second set mirrored the first, with World No. 23 Bublik taking the early lead but ultimately losing the tiebreak.
Tensions flared in the deciding set. Bublik dropped serve early and clashed with the umpire regarding new balls. Later, Rublev’s scream at a line judge proved to be the final straw, resulting in his disqualification.
Despite Bublik’s pleas to umpire Bley and supervisor Herfel, the decision stood, and the match was over.
“Well, it’s really tough to say anything right now because, I mean, I highly doubt that Andrey said something crazy. He’s not this kind of guy. But I guess that’s the rule. That’s what they did, they just followed up on the procedure, said the Kazakh in his post-match press conference.
“With all due respect, it was a great match, and both of us deserved to win. The crowd was there. We could have played one of the greatest matches we played against each other in front of a packed crowd in Dubai. It’s a pity it’s ended like this. I hope Andrey bounces back switly, as we have an ATP Masters coming up soon,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek reached the doubles final following a 6-3, 7-6(2) win over Yuki Bhambri and Robin Haase 6-3, 7-6.