The final stages of the Monte-Carlo Masters are upon the tennis world, and the excitement builds up further. The improving Ugo Humbert will play against Casper Ruud and will find himself with a tough challenge. Humbert has played in many tournaments in 2024 and won his fifth and sixth titles this season as well, giving himself a good jump in the rankings to now stand at 15.

Ruud has played fewer tournaments than Humbert but also found himself in two finals. However, he could not go ahead and win them. He will be looking to rectify this on his favorite surface.

Ugo Humbert vs Casper Ruud: Preview

Humbert is wrecking his opponents in the Monte-Carlo Masters. The Frenchman first played Federico Coria to win a three-set clash 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. He would follow it up with an impressive 6-1, 6-4 victory against Zhang Zhizhen and then ended the hopes of Lorenzo Sonego 5-7, 6-3, 6-1. In all three matches, Humbert hit 12 aces and 3 double faults.

Against Sonego, he won 71% of the points on first serve and 56% on second serve. Although he lost the first set after a big battle, it did not take him long to win back sets two and three. Humbert ended the match with four break points out of the thirteen in his corner.

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Ruud has been even more ruthless in Monte Carlo. He beat Alejandro Tabilo 6-2, 6-4, hitting 7 aces and two double faults. Ruud secured 81% points on the first serve and 67% on the second serve. He didn’t let Tabilo win more than 2 games in a row and took four break points from him. Ruud then played Hubert Hurkacz 6-4, 6-2, and hit 2 aces against the Polish player.

In addition, Ruud has won 77% of his first-serve points and 79% of his second-serve points. He only let Hurkacz take 11 receiving points and won 3 break points while never giving Hurkacz the chance to break his serve. Although he doesn’t have a great track record this year, he has managed to attain a fine grip on clay.  

Humbert vs Ruud: Head-to-Head

Humbert and Ruud have faced each other four times on the ATP Tour. The Frenchman leads their rivalry by a large margin of 3-1. Ruud, who is a clay specialist, did find his win against Humbert on the surface.

• 2020 Auckland Open round of 32: Humbert 7-6, 3-6, 6-3
• 2020 Hamburg Open quarterfinal: Ruud 7-5, 3-6, 6-1
• 2020 Paris Masters round of 64: Humbert 4-6, 6-2, 7-1
• 2022 Wimbledon round of 64: Humbert 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4

Indoor hard, outdoor hard, and grass see Humbert as the dominant player, while the clay of Hamburg helped Ruud take the lead. The Norwegian player won their only clay clash, but Humbert gave him a good contest as well.

Prediction: Ruud to take the win from the Frenchman

While Humbert is in great form himself, Ruud is another beast on the clay court. Two French Open finals are a testament to his skills on clay, and the show of his skills against the two players in the last few days only shows that he is the one in control. Aside from mastery of clay, Ruud can also exploit the serve of Humbert, who has not been able to land more than 67% of his first serves in Monte Carlo so far.

Humbert, on the other hand, can blast Ruud on his backhand constantly, which is his biggest weakness. His movement is also not elite, but it becomes less of an issue on clay, where the pace of the game is much slower than hardcourt, where Humbert specializes. Although he has played amazing tennis in the last few days, he also has a tendency to not pull through on the bigger stages, which might also hamper his game in Monte-Carlo, making Ruud the victor.  

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