The world No. 110 Ugo Humbert locks horns with Bulgarian No. 2 Dimitar Kuzmanov in the first round of the Sofia Open on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old has not had a season to remember thus far. He has been ousted in the first rounds in quite a few tournaments. Humbert made it to the round of 16 at the Lyon Open and Halle Open. He reached the third round at Wimbledon and reached the semi-finals in three consecutive Challenger events in Pozoblanco, Leon, and Vancouver.
At the Challenger event in Rennes, Humbert defeated Dominic Thiem in the final and clinched his first title in 2022. At the recently concluded Metz Open, Humbert lost to compatriot Benjamin Bonzi in the first round. Humbert won a couple of qualifying matches against Ernests Gulbis and Filip Cristian Jianu to make it to the main draw of the Sofia Open.
Dimitar Kuzmanov has also not been in great form this season. He made it to the semi-finals in a Challenger event in Bengaluru and another one in Prague. After a few first-round exits, he reached the semi-finals in Poznan, where he lost to Arthur Rinderknech. Kuzmanov reached his fourth semifinal of the year in the Zug Open but couldn’t overcome the hurdle.
The 29-year-old is coming into the tournament on the back of an exit in the round of 16 at the Challenger event in Genoa. Last year, at the Sofia Open, Kuzmanov crashed out in the second round after losing to Kamil Majchrzak.
The head-to-head scoreline stands at 0-0 as the two players have not faced each other before.
Prediction: Ugo Humbert to win in three sets.
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