Ugo Humbert completes Stefanos Tsitsipas title defense in Dubai | ATP Tour

Dubai

Humbert wins the battle of the former champions against Tsitsipas in Dubai

Medvedev sets up Wawrinka’s clash, Bublik advances

February 24, 2026

Ugo Humbert and Stefanos Tsitsipas took to the court on Wednesday with the intention of creating good memories from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

It was the 2024 list that Humbert added to his Dubai resume by ending Tstisipas’ title defense with a 6-4, 7-5 first-round victory on the tough ATP 500 court. Although Tsitsipas dropped only five points after his first appearance in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, Humbert scored only 6 points to win each tournament. overcome.

Ugo gets a W 🫡

The Frenchman won the battle of the former champions in Dubai@DDFTennis | #DDFTTennispic.twitter.com/ISTE8eiysc

– ATP Tour (@atptour) February 24, 2026

“I think it was a great battle in practice,” said No. 37 in the PIF ATP Rankings Humbert. “We worked very well from start to finish. I was lucky. In the last game at 5-4, I made a double fault, but when I got opportunities, I took them. I’m happy with this first win, because Stef is a great player.”

Humbert is now 7-1 in Dubai, where he will take on fellow Andrey Rublev, or fellow Frenchman Valentin Royer. The 27-year-old has four wins against top-30 opponents in 2026, already matching his tally from last season.

Tsitsipas who once played in the World No. 3 showed signs of a revival last week in Doha where he defeated Daniil Medvedev en route to the quarter-finals. But the 27-year-old next Monday will drop out of the Top 40 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since May 2018 due to his loss to Humbert.

Dubai third-seeded Medvedev wasted little time setting up another clash between two former champions in the UAE No. 2023 race past Shang Juncheng 6-1, 6-3 to book a second-round meeting with 2016 winner Stan Wawrinka. Medvedev leads Wawrinka 3-2 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series and won the last meeting between the two in Rotterdam in 2025.

Alexander Bublik and Karen Khachanov also won early on Tuesday. Second seed Bublik crushed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4 and will face Tallon Griekspoor in the quarter-finals after the Dutchman defeated qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-3, 6-4.

Seventh-seeded Khachanov defeated Alexander Shevchenko 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 to advance to face Jenson Brooksby, who won 6-3, 6-4 against Zizou Bergs. Arthur Rinderknech also came from behind to book a place in the second round: the Frenchman defeated Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will meet fourth seed Jack Draper next.

After qualifying to take his place in the main draw, former Top 10 star Pablo Carreno Busta improved his strong Lexus ATP Head2Head record against Denis Shapovalov with a crucial first round win in Dubai. The Spaniard prevailed 6-2, 6-4 for his sixth win in eight tour-level meetings between the two, and will face Jiri Lehecka in the last eight. Eighth-seeded Lehecka defeated Luca Nardi 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 for the opening win.