ATP Tour

Humbert wins battle of former champs against Tsitsipas in Dubai

Ugo Humbert and Stefanos Tsitsipas each stepped on court Wednesday aiming to build on fond memories from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

It was 2024 titlist Humbert who added to his Dubai storybook by ending Tstisipas’ title defence with a 6-4, 7-5 first-round triumph at the hard-court ATP 500. Although Tsitsipas dropped just five points behind his first serve in the match, according to Infosys ATP Stats, Humbert crucially clinched the only break of each set to earn an 86-minute win.

Ugo gets the W 🫡

The Frenchman is victorious in the battle of former champions in Dubai@DDFTennis | #DDFTennispic.twitter.com/ISTE8eiysc

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 24, 2026

“I think it was a big battle on serve,” said the No. 37 in the PIF ATP Rankings Humbert. “We served very well from the beginning to the end. I was a bit lucky. In the last game at 5-4, I did a double fault, but when I had opportunities, I took them. I’m happy about this first win, because Stef is a big player.”

Humbert is now 7-1 in Dubai, where he will next take on another former titlist, Andrey Rublev, who eased past Valentin Royer 6-3, 6-4. The 27-year-old has earned four wins against Top 30 opponents in 2026, already matching his tally for the whole of last season.

Former World No. 3 Tsitsipas showed signs of a resurgence last week in Doha where he defeated Daniil Medvedev en route to the quarter-finals. Yet the 27-year-old will next Monday slip out of the Top 40 of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time since May 2018 as a result of his loss to Humbert.

Dubai third seed Medvedev wasted little time setting another clash between two former champions in the U.A.E. The 2023 titlist raced 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 pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series and won the pair’s most recent meeting in Rotterdam in 2025.

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Alexander Bublik and Karen Khachanov were also early winners on Tuesday. Second seed Bublik sank Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4 and will take on Tallon Griekspoor for a quarter-final spot after the Dutchman overcame qualifier Otto Virtanen 6-3, 6-4.

The seventh-seeded Khachanov rallied past Alexander Shevchenko 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-3 to advance to face Jenson Brooksby, a 6-3, 6-4 winner against Zizou Bergs. Arthur Rinderknech also came from behind to book a second-round spot: The Frenchman defeated Fabian Marozsan 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and will meet fourth seed Jack Draper next.

Jakub Mensik arrived in Dubai after notching the biggest win of his career by PIF ATP Ranking against Jannik Sinner at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The 20-year-old bounced back quickly from his semi-final defeat to Arthur Fils in Doha by taking down Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 7-6(7). The sixth-seeded Czech will meet Alexei Popyrin for a quarter-final spot after the Australian defeated Kamil Majchrzak 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Having come through 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 commanding 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 he will take on Jiri Lehecka for a last-eight berth. The eighth-seeded Lehecka overhauled Luca Nardi for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 opening win.