Ugo Humbert stayed undefeated in ATP Tour finals by beating Alexander Bublik 6-4, 6-3 to win the Dubai Championships on Saturday.
The French player, who upset defending champion Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals, improved to 6-0 in finals. Humbert is the third player in the professional era to win his first six tour-level finals, matching the achievements of Ernests Gulbis and Martin Klizan.
“I really don’t know, but I have a good statistic,” Humbert said about his ability to rise to the occasion in title clashes. “I have a really good team around me.”
Humbert, who also won the Marseille title three weeks ago, is set to climb four spots to a career-high No. 14 when the rankings are updated Monday. He will be the first French men’s player in the top 15 since Gael Monfils three years ago.
Humbert took control of the final after breaking Bublik to clinch the first set. He broke again for a 3-1 lead in the second set. The left-hander saved the only two break points he faced.
“It’s not easy to play against Bublik,” Humbert said. “I stayed really calm and really focused. He had some opportunities to break me in the first set, but I knew exactly what I had to do.”
Humbert saved three match points against Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.
Bublik reached the final after Andrey Rublev was defaulted in their semifinal Friday for yelling in the face of a line judge.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.