PARIS: Third seed Alexander Zverev eased past home favourite Ugo Humbert 6-2, 6-2 in the Paris Masters final on Sunday and will return to his career-high number two in the world rankings.
German Zverev will leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz in Monday's official rankings for the first time since suffering a serious injury at the 2022 French Open.
"That was a performance to match the occasion," Zverev said.
"It was pretty good I have to say. I knew I had to play like this to win. Ugo is an incredible player. Plus him playing in Paris, I think he played even better than he usually does.
"I knew that once the crowd gets involved it would be very, very difficult. I had to take that away early. I did that and I'm happy about it."
The Roland Garros runner-up broke first as he took the opener helped by a number of unforced errors by Humbert.
His performance was just as powerful in the second set as the 27-year-old went on to win the Paris Masters for the first time.
"I want to thank my team. The work we've done over the past two and a half years to be back in this position, everyone had to sacrifice so much. To be able to play on these beautiful courts again," Zverev added.
"There was never a 100 per cent guarantee that I'd be back at this level after Roland Garros two years ago when I basically broke everything in my ankle that's possible.
"To win the title here in Paris means the world to me but I'm sure it also means the world to everybody sitting in my box. They've done so much to help me lift this title."
In winning his seventh ATP Masters 1000 title, Zverev joined Boris Becker as the only German champions in the tournament's history.
He has the most match wins on the ATP Tour this season (66), one ahead of world number one Jannik Sinner. — Reuters
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