"Seizing opportunities when they present themselves gives me confidence," Humbert savors after his victory against Opelka

Ugo Humbert delivered a strong performance to eliminate Reilly Opelka in the quarter-finals in Basel.

After Sebastian Korda and Taylor Fritz, Humbert eliminated a third American player at the ATP 500 tournament in Basel. This time, it was Reilly Opelka who fell victim to the Frenchman's solid indoor game.

After a tight first set decided by a tie-break (7-0 for Humbert), the world number 24 broke in the final game of the match to win in two sets (7-6, 6-4 in 1h22).

This victory allows him to reach the semi-finals where he will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, just like at the Paris Masters 1000 at the beginning of next week. The Stockholm tournament finalist from last week reacted to this success against Opelka, the world number 62.

"I had never trained with him, I had never returned his serve. It's so frustrating to face this kind of player who serves so well... There are games where you don't even touch the ball.

There's no rhythm, you have to get back into the swing on his service games. Honestly, I wasn't even trying to break. Winning four points on his serve in one game is almost impossible!

So I told myself: 'You go to the tie-break and we'll see what happens.' In that first-set tie-break, I tried to anticipate a bit, I picked the right side every time. And the first volley he missed didn't do him any good.

At 4-0 with a double mini-break, you feel better. And at the end of the match at 5-4, I tried a side again. I made one lucky return that clipped the line, another that landed on the line.

I'm not unhappy. I stayed calm in this match. I feel like I didn't hit many balls. Maybe that's good for me. And seizing opportunities when they present themselves gives me confidence," Humbert reacted after his qualification, according to comments gathered by L'Équipe.