Despite a hard fought game, Stefanos Tsitsipas was unable to overcome Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters.

After an impressive year, the world no. 6 was taken out in early round back-to-back defeats; first in the Vienna Open and most recently in straight sets 7-6(4) 6-7(6) 7-6(3) against Humbert.

Despite a strong start in the first set, Tsitsipas was no match for Humbert’s attacking forehand, which helped the Frenchman recover the early break he had conceded.

This gave the world no. 34 a boost in confidence, going for Tsitsipas’ forehand to force multiple errors in the first-set tie-break.

The young Greek fought harder in the second set, trailing ahead 6-3 during the tiebreak and making Humbert nervous.

Tsitsipas used his opponent’s nerves to snag five points in a row and force a decider, levelling the match whilst denying Humbert from converting three match points in the tie-break.

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The Frenchman bounced back with aggression, despite Tsitsipas’ efforts in saving three match points.

Despite serving 19 aces and saving yet another match point in the last set, Tsitsipas could now bring 22-year-old Humbert down, bowing out of the Bercy arena.

Tsitsipas commended his opponent’s forehand for “doing a lot of damage” in a post match interview.

“His serve was very consistent. Despite having opportunities where he would serve second serves [and] I could come in [and] be more aggressive, it didn’t seem as easy as I had it planned in my head,” he said.

Humbert mentioned he was “super proud” of himself, going up against one of the top contenders in the sport.

“I was mentally very strong to win this match against Tsitsipas, one of the best players in the world,” he said.

The game lasted for three hours and 16 minutes with the two players performing for an empty stadium.

For now, Tsitsipas will be gearing up and training to make his second straight appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Hopefully last year’s luck will rub off again on this competition, as he claimed the trophy on his tournament debut last year with back-to-back wins against Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem.

You can catch him playing at the O2 in London from 15-22 November.