Humbert chalks up another title in Dubai, secured top-16 seed in Indian Wells

There aren’t many players with more momentum than Ugo Humbert heading into the Sunshine Double.

Humbert captured his second title of the season and a third in his last seven tournaments when he beat Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday. The world No. 18 fired nine aces without double-faulting a single time, served at 73 percent, and fought off both of the break points he faced. Thanks to such consistency on serve, one break in each set was all Humbert needed to prevail in one hour and 25 minutes.

The Frenchman is now 6-0 lifetime in ATP championship matches. He is just the third man in the Open Era to win the first six finals of his career, joining Ernests Gulbis and Martin Klizan.

“I played a fantastic level during the whole week,” Humbert commented. “Today was not easy…. He is not easy to play against. He had some opportunities to break me, but I was really calm and knew exactly what I had to do.”

Meanwhile, Bublik is now 4-7 all time in ATP finals.

Both Humbert (14th) and Bublik (19th) will reach new career-high rankings on Monday. The continuation of Humbert’s climb will give him a top-16 seed at the upcoming BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Bulik also would have been a top-16 seed in Tennis Paradise if he had won the Dubai title. Instead, Ben Shelton hangs on to the No. 16 seed in Indian Wells.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.