Ugo Humbert maintained his good start to the season with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against former World No. 1 Andy Murray to enter the quarter finals of the Dubai Open here on Wednesday.
The fifth seed French did not face a break point en route to his first victory against the Scot, advancing in one hour and 31 minutes.
Despite the loss, Murray hopes to challenge for a third Olympic gold medal in Paris this year. The 36-year-old British player, the only man ever to win two Olympic singles titles (in London and Rio de Janeiro), has struggled in recent months and is currently ranked 67th in the world.
“Hopefully I can get the chance to compete at another one,” Murray told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme on Wednesday when asked whether he would be present at the Paris Olympics.
After that defeat to Humbert, Murray said: “I’m likely not going to play past this summer. I get asked about it after every single match that I play. I’m bored of the question, to be honest.”
Alexander Bublik also advanced in Dubai, clawing past Tallon Griekspoor 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-2). Andrey Rublev continued his impressive record here when he brushed aside French qualifier Arthur Cazaux 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter finals for the fifth consecutive year.
Daniil Medvedev opened his title defense by beating Alexander Shevchenko 6-3, 7-5 in his first match since losing the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner.
Indians advance
Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden entered the men’s doubles quarter finals with a 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) win over the Tunisian-Pakistani pair of Skander Mansouri and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi here on Tuesday.
Another Indian doubles specialist Yuki Bhambri and his Dutch partner Robin Haase also progressed to the quarter finals, defeating Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik and Adrian Mannarino of France 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 10-8 in a round of 16 match.
However, in men’s singles Sumit Nagal lost 4-6, 7-5, 1-6 to Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
Written with Reuters & PTI inputs
