Muller, Humbert's Conqueror in Madrid: "It Wasn't a Walk in the Park"

On Saturday afternoon, Alexandre Muller won the all-French clash in the second round of the Madrid Masters 1000. In a match that remained uncertain until the very end, the world No. 39 ultimately prevailed against Ugo Humbert (6-2, 6-7, 7-6) and advanced to the third round, where he will face Frances Tiafoe for a spot in the last 16.

However, the 28-year-old Frenchman didn’t seem to fully savor his victory, as he explained to *L'Équipe* after the match against his compatriot, who has been physically limited since the Monte-Carlo tournament due to a right-hand injury.

"Match-wise, it was complicated in terms of feeling. Ugo applied enormous pressure, whether on serve or return, so I didn’t hit as many balls as I would’ve liked.

In the first set, he missed a lot. But I wasn’t comfortable. I was playing a bit against my usual style—hitting a lot of cross-court forehands to target his backhand.

It was really tough. I kept thinking, ‘He’s got an issue with his finger, so I’ll try to attack his backhand.’ Then he’d miss one where you could see the splint bothering him. But suddenly, he’d fire three backhands right into the corner.

So it was tricky. He definitely has some discomfort on the backhand side, but he still managed to hit it well at times. He put insane pressure on me with his returns, and he served great. He was dictating play, making the winners and the errors. I was just doing what I could. It wasn’t a walk in the park.

I focused too much on him and lost my usual patterns. It was a complicated match, tactically and mentally, but the main thing is that I pulled through in the end. I stayed calm. Today was all about grinding it out. Like I told Xavier (Pujot, his coach) after the match—it was two and a half hours of suffering.

It was awful! I was fighting against myself to stay composed, fighting against my own game, which wasn’t at its best today. But if it wasn’t great, it’s also because Ugo put so much pressure on me and played really well at times. I was constantly starting points under pressure," he analyzed.