Djokovic battles past Humbert on first Basel appearance in 15 years

Novak Djokovic pulled off a hard-fought comeback victory over Ugo Humbert on his first appearance in Basel for 15 years.

Battling in the final months of the year to keep alive his chances of qualifying for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin, the 39-year-old Serb celebrated what he viewed as a big win after beating the Frenchman 4-6 6-3 6-4 in about two and a half hours.

Harry Poole, reporting for the BBC, writes that Djokovic, who is 11th in the race to Turin, is hunting a record 19th appearance at the finals, which are open only to the year’s top eight performers.

He is 319 points behind Spain’s Rafael Jodar, who occupies the last qualifying place. The result was his 20th tour-level win of the year.

He beat Roger Federer to win the Basel title on his debut in 2009 and has not played the event since 2011. This was also his first indoor tournament since winning in Athens last November, and he said afterwards that he had expected to be a little rusty in a tough draw.

Humbert, ranked 38th, controlled the first set, but Djokovic broke him in the second after saving two break points of his own, and the Frenchman took a medical timeout for an apparent back problem when trailing 4-1.

Djokovic then lifted his level in the decider, breaking for 3-2 and serving out the match to reach the second round.

Sources: BBC, 28 October, via MyJoyOnline; Tennisnow; Tennis365