The step was too high. From dream to nightmare. Against a Zverev in his prime, Ugo Humbert was taken completely by surprise on Sunday in his first Masters 1000 final. A one-sided battle. It was a demonstration of strength for Zverev, who secured his seventh title in this category of tournament, his second in 2024 after Rome. A finalist in the Paris venue in 2020 behind closed doors in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Zverev becomes the last winner of the Rolex Paris Masters at Bercy, before the move to the Paris Défense Arena. 38 years after his compatriot Boris Becker won the first edition at the POPB. What a symbol!

Last year, Jérémy Chardy’s pupil pushed the world number 3 (he will be Sinner’s runner-up in the rankings on Monday) to the limit in an incandescent atmosphere. The German won the 2nd round in a thrilling 3h30 (6-4, 6-7, 7-6). There was much less suspense this time around, despite an omnipresent crowd who never gave up on the blue hero of the week, who defeated Carlos Alcaraz. Broken twice by the German in the first act, the player from Metz suffered a crushing 6-2 defeat. The Frenchman’s serve (only 57% of points won behind his first serves) didn’t really hurt the Hamburg native (100% of points won on his first serves). A real steamroller. Stunned, the world’s 18th-ranked player immediately surrendered his opening game of the second set. After leading 40-0 on his first serve, he conceded 5 consecutive points to take a double break. The German’s service games continued to flow (only 5 points lost on his serve by Zverev in the whole match!).

Humbert was only the eighth French player to reach a Masters 1000 final, after Forget, Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, Monfils, Cédric Pioline, Grosjean and Gilles Simon. Gaël Monfils was the last to reach this stage at Monte-Carlo in 2016 (defeat by Nadal). He will not be succeeding Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the last Frenchman to be crowned champion on home soil at Bercy in 2008. At the age of 26, the French leader was discovering this stage of competition in one of the most prestigious tournaments behind the Grand Slams. A tough baptism.