Frenchman Hugo Humbert upsets Andrey Rublev to win the grass court title at the Halle Open

France’s Hugo Humbert scored an upset victory over fourth-seeded Andrey Rublev on Sunday to claim the biggest title of his career in the final of a grass-court tournament in Halle.

Humbert, ranked 31 in the world, earned a 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) victory over world number seven Russia’s Rublev in one hour, 24 minutes.

Having won two ATP 250 titles in his career, this was the first tournament win at 500 level for the 22-year-old, who has won all three finals he has reached on the tour.

After breaking Rublev to go 5-3 up in the opening set, in which he powered down five aces, Humbert converted his fourth set point in a hard fought game.

Rublev made precious few mistakes in the second set until losing his serve at 5-4 in the tie-break, when Humbert held his serve to convert his first match point.

Humbert had already thrown down a marker earlier in the week in Halle when he knocked out French Open semi-finalist Alexander Zverev in the second round.

Rublev had been the last remaining seed in the draw from the quarter-finals onwards after top players like Roger Federer and world number two Daniil Medvedev crashed out in the early rounds.