Tsitsipas knocked out of Paris Masters

PARIS, Nov 04 (AFP): Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas was dumped out of the Paris Masters on Tuesday after losing to in-form Frenchman Ugo Humbert in a marathon second-round tie.

Humbert, who is on a seven-match winning streak after winning the Antwerp title last month, missed four match points but battled to a 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3) victory. He was visibly struggling in the final-set tie-break after over three hours on court, but Tsitsipas said he was also not at full fitness.

"I'm just disappointed with the way I played," said the world number six, who lost to world number one Novak Djokovic in an epic French Open semi-final last month.

The 22-year-old Humbert will face former US Open champion Marin Cilic for a place in the quarter-finals.

Tsitsipas will next defend his ATP Tour Finals title in London at the season-ending tournament which gets underway on November 15.