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| Reuters |
Fifth seed Ugo Humbert produced a near-flawless performance to outclass Kazakh Alexander Bublik 6-4 6-3 and capture the Dubai Tennis Championships title on Saturday for his second trophy this season.
By lifting the title, the 25-year-old Frenchman became only the third player in the professional era to win his first six tour-level finals, matching the achievement of Latvia's Ernests Gulbis and Slovakia's Martin Klizan.
"I really don't know, but I have a good statistic," Humbert said about his ability to rise to the occasion in title clashes. "I have a really good team around me."
The in-form Marseille champion edged a tight opening set when seventh seed Bublik fired a double fault in the 10th game as he chanced his arm and attempted a big second serve in a desperate bid to hold.
"It's not easy to play against Bublik," said Humbert, who will climb four places to a career-high world ranking of number 14 when the list is updated on Monday.
"I stayed really calm and really focused. He had some opportunities to break me in the first set but I knew exactly what I had to do."
