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Ugo Humbert of France beat Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4 6-4 in a Group B tie of the Davis Cup finals in Manchester last Tuesday, September 12. Humbert’s win gave France an unassailable 2-0 lead in the tie after Adrian Mannarino had defeated Dominic Stricker in the first match.
France later won the doubles match as well to wrap up the tie 3-0. They thus made a resoundng start to their campaign. France will take on Australia next on Thursday.
On that note, let us take a look at four things that stood out in the match between Humbert and Wawrinka:
#1. Humbert dominated with his crosscourt forehand:
Throughout the match, Humbert kept playing his crosscourt forehand to Wawrinka’s backhand side to keep the 38-year-old Swiss under pressure. Wawrinka often could not come up with a subsequent shot that was deep enough to trouble the Frenchman.
#2. Wawrinka provided Humbert with enough short balls:
Wawrinka provided Humbert with enough short balls, which the latter often dispatched for winners with his next shot. At times, he also went down-the-line with his forehand to the open court to leave the three-time Grand Slam champion stranded. Humbert broke Wawrinka in the seventh game of the first set to take a 4-3 lead and then held his serve to extend it. He then managed to serve the set out in the 10th game to draw first blood.
#3. Wawrinka tended to overpress with his backhand:
Wawrinka often tended to put too much power behind his backhand to counter Humbert’s forehand and only managed to hit the shot long in the process a few times. The Swiss also was not able to make his opponent play off his backhand more often and paid the price for it.
#4. Humbert moved quite swiftly on the court:
Wawrinka also tried to make Humbert move from side to side, but the Frenchman’s swift movement helped him get to the ball well in time on most of the occasions.
The unforced errors by Wawrinka made the Frenchman’s job easier, as he won 16 straight points to race to a 4-0 lead in the second set.
The lead became 5-1 for Humbert, but Wawrinka then rallied to reduce the deficit to 4-5, breaking Humbert twice in the process. However, the Frenchman was still ahead by a break and made no mistake in serving out the match in the 10th game of the second set. It was an important win for the young Frenchman that should boost his morale for the upcoming matches.
