Koepfer upsets top seed Humbert in Lyon

Dominik Koepfer upset top seed and French No. 1 Ugo Humbert at the Open Parc on Wednesday when he moved past the home favourite 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals in Lyon.

The No. 17 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Humbert was competing as the top seed at a tour-level event for the first time. The 25-year-old was unable to deliver the result he was hoping for against Koepfer, who showed good feel to drag Humbert around.

The German struck 28 winners and broke Humbert’s serve four times, according to Infosys ATP Stats, to improve to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

"It is hard to play Ugo. He is a great player on every surface... that is why he is Top 20 in the world," Koepfer said. "It is not easy. I was struggling and negative in the first set and a half but I managed to turn it around and play much better tennis at the end. I am happy to go through."

Into his eighth tour-level quarter-final and third on clay, Koepfer will next face sixth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry. The Argentine led Thiago Seyboth Wild 7-5, 3-0 when the Brazilian was forced to retire.

Earlier, Luciano Darderi defeated third-seeded Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6(4), 6-3 to reach his fourth tour-level quarter-final, a fourth on clay, after two hours and one minute.

The 22-year-old, playing at a career-high No. 47 in the PIF ATP Rankings, is 16-8 on clay this year. He won his first ATP Tour title in Cordoba in February and will continue the quest for his second in Lyon, where he next plays Arthur Rinderknech. The Frenchman beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6(7), 6-4.

French wild card Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is also into the last eight after he received a walkover from Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.