Preview: Dan Evans vs. Ugo Humbert - prediction, head-to-head, tournament so far

Fresh from finally claiming his first ATP Tour victory of the season, a rejuvenated Dan Evans faces Ugo Humbert in the second round of the Libema Open on Thursday.

The British veteran took down Rinky Hijakata in three sets to set up a date with a man 15 years his junior, who bypassed the first-round stage thanks to his second-seed status.

Match preview

Ups and downs have been the story of Evans's turbulent tennis career, and 2025 has most certainly been a down for the 35-year-old, who went without a single top-level main-draw win in the first five months of the season.

From sitting just outside the top 20 in 2023 to ranking 217th at the time of writing, Evans has largely competed on the Challenger Tour with limited success this year - his best result being a quarter-final appearance in Barletta - while also falling in French Open and Australian Open qualifying.

However, the Briton ended his ATP Tour main-draw exile by coming through two taxing three-setters in Libema qualifying, and he defied the standings to take down Australia's Hijikata on Wednesday, in another contest that went the distance.

Losing the opening set was not a harbinger of doom for Evans, who fought back valiantly to triumph 3-6 6-4 6-3 in two hours and 15 minutes, showcasing typically dogged defensive skills to save 10 of the 14 break points that Hijikata fashioned.

The 35-year-old remarkably fought off five of those chances for his opponent while serving for the match, before sealing his maiden ATP Tour win of 2025 with a fifth ace of the day, thus overcoming both a significant mental and physical barrier as Wimbledon preparations ramp up.

Evans's reward for taking out the world number 75 is an even more daunting showdown with the world number 20, as Humbert seeks to right some singles and doubles wrongs in his opening singles contest in Rosmalen.

The 26-year-old has already taken to the grass courts in the Netherlands, competing alongside Canada's Gabriel Diallo in the men's doubles, but their run was short-lived as they lost in straight sets 3-6 4-6 to Ivan Dodig and Sem Verbeek on Tuesday.

Sticking with the theme of short-lived runs, Humbert's French Open campaign ended prematurely due to a second-round retirement against Evans's countryman Jacob Fearnley, whom he had lost the first set to before calling it quits with an ankle problem.

Now fully recovered, the 6ft 2in leftie seeks to further enhance his grass-court credentials after a praiseworthy run to the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, which preceded a Paris Masters final defeat to Alexander Zverev.

While Humbert is a hard-court aficionado first and foremost, the seven-time ATP Tour champion boasts one top-level grass title - triumphing at Halle in 2021 - and a quarter-final with Nuno Borges or Otto Virtanen will be next on the menu if he can bring Evans crashing back down to earth.

Tournament so far

Dan Evans:

First round: vs. Rinky Hijikata 3-6 6-4 6-3

Ugo Humbert:

First round: Bye

Head To Head

European Open (2020) - Semi-finals: Humbert wins 4-6 7-6[7] 6-4

Only once before have Humbert and Evans clashed on the ATP Tour, but the encounter was a particularly memorable one, as the Frenchman triumphed in a three-set thriller in the semi-finals of the 2020 European Open in Antwerp.

The Briton led the way after set one, but Humbert crucially edged a second-set tie-breaker and used that momentum to beat Alex de Minaur in the final.

However, Evans had conquered Humbert convincingly on the Challenger Tour a year before, prevailing 6-2 6-4 in the Quimper semi-finals before falling to Gregoire Barrere in the Championship match.

We say: Humbert to win in two sets

A staggering 142 places separate Evans and his recent victim Hijikata in the ATP Tour rankings, and the British qualifier has to back himself to pull off another grass-court upset now that the feel-good factor is finally back.

However, a well-rested and offensive-minded Humbert should run into few issues dispatching his British foe and moving one step closer to a second grass-court crown.

Written by
Ben Knapton

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