via Reuters

Bonjour tennis world! The ball has already started rolling at the second Grand Slam of the season. And now the stage is set for some of the biggest stars in the tennis world to step onto the Parisian clay court. Talking about stars, well France’s number one tennis star, Ugo Humbert will take on Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego in an enticing first-round clash at the 2024 French Open. Can the Italian upset the local lad at the Court Suzanne Lenglen?

Ugo Humbert is in good form this year and he already won two titles this season. Apart from that, the 25-year-old Frenchman has also reached the QF of two other tournaments this year. On the other hand, Lorenzo Sonego has made it one QF and one SF in his previous tournaments this year. Both of them will be looking forward to making a winning start at the Roland Garros on Sunday (May 26).

Ugo Humbert vs Lorenzo Sonego: Preview

Ugo Humbert was last seen in action at the Lyon Open. However, he failed to make an impact in that tournament and got defeated at the hands of Germany’s Dominik Koepfer by 6-2,4-6,4-6 in the R16. Can he overcome that disappointing loss from the match he played a few days ago and come back with a win against Sonego in Paris? Well, looking at his numbers from that match, Humbert hit just two aces and committed two double faults in the entire match.

His first serve win percentage was 66%, while it was just around 45% on the second serve. The Frenchman converted four of his nine breakpoints against the German. However, he has quite some impressive numbers if we look at his stats from the 2024 season. Ugo Humbert has hit 121 aces this season but has just committed 29 double faults in total so far. He has won 85% of his service games and 23% of his return games this season. Looking at these numbers, we can get an indication of how crucial are his serves in deciding the fate of his matches.

Lorenzo Sonego had also taken part at the Lyon Open. He was defeated by another Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard by 3-6,6-3 in the R32. Sonego hit two aces and committed three double faults in that match. His first serve win percentage was 76% and on the second serve, it was 54%. However, he didn’t get any chances to convert any breakpoints against Perricard.

If we take a glimpse at his numbers from this season, Lorenzo Sonego has hammered 147 aces this season. But he has committed 38 double faults in total. He has won 82% of his service games and 11% of his return games this season. How well have they performed in their previous encounters and who’s currently leading their H2H score line? Let’s take a sneak peek at those numbers too!

Humbert vs Sonego: Head-to-Head

Ugo Humbert is currently leading the H2H by a 3-2 margin. These numbers depict how exciting their meetings have been previously. Moreover, did you know four out of their five meetings have taken three sets to decide the ultimate winner from their previous matches? Ugo Humbert had the last laugh in their first meeting at the 2021 Canadian Open. He defeated Sonego by 6-3,6-4 in that match. After that Sonego took his revenge at their next faceoff at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters. He defeated the Frenchman by 3-6,7-5,7-5. Then yet again, Lorenzo Sonego won their second-round match at the 2023 French Open by a three-set thriller.

However, Humbert levelled it 2-2 with a win against Sonego at the China Open last year. Their latest meeting was at this year’s Monte Carlo Masters. Ugo Humbert defeated Lorenzo Sonego by 5-7,6-3,6-1 in that R16 clash. The French hit five aces and committed just a single double fault in the entire match. While the Italian failed to hit even a single ace in the entire match but committed two double faults.

Humbert won 71% of his first serve and 56% of his second serve in that match. While for Lorenzo Sonego it was 65% and 50% respectively. Sonego could only convert one of his ten breakpoints against Humbert. While the left-handed Frenchman converted four out of his thirteen breakpoints. But who’s going to win this exciting contest?

Prediction: Humbert to win this match in a three-set thriller

Ugo Humbert (16) is currently ranked thirty-three places above Lorenzo Sonego (49) in the PIF ATP singles rankings. But is the ranking enough to predict the winner? Definitely not! But if we look at their current form, Humbert has a win-loss record of 19-10 this season while for Sonego it’s just 7-15. So, looking at their current form, Ugo Humbert currently looks a bit ahead of the Italian. But Sonego has reached the fourth round of this tournament twice (2020,2023) while Humbert’s best result came last year when he reached the second round of the French Open.

Humbert is an offensive player who loves to hit volleys. His favorite shot is backhand and his favorite tournament is Roland Garros. While Lorenzo Sonego’s favorite shot is his serve. But he can hit the groundstrokes with real venom and it’s usually flatter and deeper than what any other typical tennis player hits. However, he has often been seen struggling a bit on the clay courts. So, if we talk about the winner from this epic clash, Ugo Humbert is believed to be coming out of this match with flying colors in front of his home crowd.