It is a battle of the youngsters here at the 2020 Antwerp Open as Ugo Humbert meets Lloyd Harris in the quarterfinals on Friday, October 23rd 2020. Will it be the rising Frenchman, or the powerful South African?
Lloyd Harris came through an extremely tight two set victory over Taylor Fritz on Thursday in the second round, being able to beat the American 7-5/7-6. Fritz was not able to convert any of his break point opportunities and at the end of the day this resulted in Harris being able to convert only one break point and swing the momentum in his favour. Harris showed us his big serve and powerful forehand which reminds me of Matteo Berrettini. Fritz did not perform to the standard we are used to and Harris definitely took advantage. This is going to be a completely different task now for Harris as Humbert is not going to perform as badly as Fritz did.
Ugo Humbert played an incredibly solid performance in the second round on Wednesday here in Antwerp, beating the No.2 seed and extremely high level player in Pablo Carreno Busta. PBC was definitely the favourite to win that match and at certain moments in the third set it looked as if that would be the outcome, however, Humbert was able to hang in there, save multiple break points in the final set and eventually run away with the match. Humbert knows that if he continues to improve his level he will definitely challenge for the title here in Antwerp.
This is going to be the first meeting between both players and it is going to be a very tight one. Harris can out serve Humbert but Humbert is a much better mover around the court and due to his lefty forehand he is able to move his opponents and play on their weaker side. Harris will have to bring his A-game if he is to challenge here, but I expect Humbert to be ready to make it to the semifinals here and put on a challenge for the title in a year where the Frenchman has shined.