Humbert stuns Fritz at Swiss Indoors, Zverev and Rybakina secure WTA Finals spots

Unseeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert toppled top seed Taylor Fritz 6-3, 6-4 in the Swiss Indoors last 16 on Thursday.

This was the second American Humbert, 27, has knocked out in Basel following his first round defeat of Sebastian Korda 24 hours earlier.

The French number one left-hander’s reward is a quarter-final match-up against US qualifier Reilly Opelka.

Last Sunday the world number 24 Humbert reached the final of the Stockholm ATP 250 tournament where he was beaten in two sets by Norway’s Casper Ruud.

Ruud, the fourth seed, downed veteran home hope Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in Basel to set up a quarter-final date with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Defeat for Fritz came on the back of his battling three-set first round win over this month’s Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot.

Basel second seed Ben Shelton was also sent packing, 6-3 6-4 by Spain’s Jaume Munar, who faces fifth-seed Felipe Auger-Aliassime in the last eight.

Meanwhile, twice ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev booked his place in the season-ending championship after progressing to the semi-finals of the Vienna Open on Friday, marking his eighth qualification in the past nine seasons.

Zverev secured his spot for the Turin event after Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor withdrew from their quarter-final clash in Vienna, where the German world number three is seeded second.

Zverev, who finished as runner-up at the Australian Open in January, joins Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic as the first four players to qualify for the event, which runs from November 9-16. Four spots are up for grabs.

Jannik Sinner and Alexander Bublik renewed their entertaining rivalry on Friday, where the top-seeded Italian prevailed 6-4, 6-4 to move to within two wins of his fourth title of 2025.

Sinner lost to Bublik in Halle in June but has since put the 28-year-old to the sword. The World No. 2 dropped just three games en route to a fourth-round win at the US Open in September and was close to his best once again in Vienna.

France’s Corentin Moutet gained swift revenge on Daniil Medvedev. The pair met in last Sunday’s final in Almaty, with Medvedev prevailing.

Four days later Moutet emerged the winner over the Russian 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.

Elsewhere, Elena Rybakina clinched the eighth and last spot at next month’s WTA Finals when she beat Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) on Friday to reach the Pan Pacific semi-finals in Tokyo.

The 2022 Wimbledon champion joins the elite field in Saudi Arabia after a successful run of form that also saw her win the Ningbo Open in China last week.

“It’s great to qualify and play some more matches, especially against top players,” said Kazakhstan’s Rybakina, who will appear at the Finals for a third straight year.

“Last week I was focusing one match at a time and I knew that to qualify it’s going to take a long road,” said the world number seven.

“In the end everything worked out pretty well.”

Rybakina will play sixth seed Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic in the semi-finals on Saturday.

On the other side of the draw, Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic will face American Sofia Kenin, who fended off four match points against number three seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in their quarter-final. Number two seed Rybakina made a fast start by winning the first three games against Canada’s 19-year-old Mboko on the way to sealing the first set.

The second was more closely contested with Rybakina saving a set point against the 23rd-ranked Mboko before they went to a tiebreak.

Rybakina sent down five aces during the match and hit 23 winners to Mboko’s 17.

“It was a very difficult match, I’m really glad I managed to win in two sets,” said the 26-year-old.

Rybakina was locked in a straight battle for the last WTA Finals spot with Russia’s Mirra Andreeva.

Rybakina joins Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Madison Keys, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini at the November 1-8 season-ending tournament.

Agencies