Andy Murray Pulls off an Upset by Beating World No.26 Ugo Humbert on His Home Court of Moselle

At the US Open a couple of weeks ago, former world no.1 Andy Murray put up a brave fight against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the opening round. Barring the little controversy that happened following the match, Murray showed the world that he was back to playing top-notch tennis on the big stage.

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Murray’s comeback from hip surgery has been a mixed-bag so far

Ever since his return to competition after hip surgery, Murray defeated the likes of Alexander Zverev, Nikoloz Basilashvili, and Benoit Paire. While the Brit is yet to win a title, he seems to be progressing forward with his game and playing level.

After a tough US Open defeat, the Brit lost in the second-round of the Challenger tournament in Rennes, France. Murray stayed back in France to play the ATP Moselle Open in Metz. In the first round, he faced the Frenchman Ugo Humbert.

Humbert, who won the grass-court event in Halle by defeating quality contenders like Felix Auger-Aliassime and Andrey Rublev couldn’t manage to continue the winning momentum as he ended up losing in the initial rounds at the US hard-court series.

Even at the US Open, the Frenchman lost in the first round to Peter Gojowczyk. At his home tournament, Humbert was looking to win as many matches as possible with the crowd supporting him.

Andy Murray produced quality tennis against Ugo Humbert in ATP Moselle Open 2021

However, the Frenchman’s plans of bouncing back to form were destroyed by none other than Andy Murray. Despite losing a closely contested first set, Murray returned the favor by winning the second.

Throughout the match, Humbert wasn’t able to do much on his return games. Even though the Frenchman saved a total of ten break points, he couldn’t fire up his return due to accurate serving on the part of his opponent.

With Murray leveling the match by winning the second set, the momentum was clearly with the Brit as he broke Humbert in the first game of the final set and quickly raced to a lead of 4-0.

By this time, the Frenchman was unable to put any pressure on Murray’s serve and in search of a miracle to turn the match over. Initially, it was Andy who was leading the unforced errors count but as the match progressed, Humbert was the one who kept shanking his forehands.

The sixth game in the third set put Murray under pressure as he made a couple of unexpected errors, giving Humbert the chance to break back. With the chair umpire having to silence the crowd a couple of times, the Brit gave his best to save break points and emerged victorious by winning the service game.

Serving for the match at 5-2 in the decider, the Frenchman pushed Murray to the best of his abilities but the latter bounced back from 0-30 down to clinch the match with a out-wide ace to the ad-court on Humbert’s side.

Andy Murray will now meet Vasek Pospisil in the second round of the ATP Moselle Open 2021.

Also read: “Took Less Than Three Minutes”: Journalist Silences Stefanos Tsitsipas After He Questions Andy Murray