A statement win at exactly the right moment: Daniel Mérida Aguilar, unseeded and making his Masters 1000 debut, gave Ugo Humbert no answers at the National Bank Open in Montreal. The Spaniard took both sets 6-3 to advance with authority. Humbert, seeded 24th, was outclassed by the surging youngster at every turn.
Mérida Aguilar dictates from the baseline
The Spaniard set the tone from the very first game. A 71 per cent first-serve percentage, backed by 74 per cent of points won behind it, gave Mérida Aguilar a rock-solid serving platform to build his game around. On return he was equally imposing, winning a hefty 64 per cent of points on Humbert's second serve and converting 31 per cent of his break points — more than enough to keep the Frenchman under relentless pressure.
Humbert, the left-handed Metz native, did fight. He saved 69 per cent of the break points he faced and won 70 per cent of points on his first serve. But the weaknesses were plain to see: seven double faults repeatedly undermined his service games, and on return he won just 11 per cent of return games — nowhere near the level a victory would have demanded.
No resistance in the second set
Whatever semblance of resistance Humbert had managed in the opening set evaporated in the second. Mérida Aguilar raised his level further, denying the Frenchman any rhythm and closing out the set once again 6-3. The final numbers tell the story of his dominance plainly: Mérida Aguilar won 67 per cent of all games and 54 per cent of all points played — a show of force that left no doubt about the merit of the result.
For Humbert, the exit in Montreal stings particularly hard. The Frenchman has now fallen in the second round in this city on four separate occasions, unable to break the curse. His long-awaited breakthrough at the Canadian Open will have to wait until at least 2027.
The rise of an exceptional talent
For Mérida Aguilar, this is simply the latest step in a remarkable trajectory. Just two years ago he was ranked 428th in the world; today the 21-year-old sits at No. 63. In July 2026 he claimed his maiden ATP title in Umag, announcing himself to the wider tennis world. In Montreal he has now demonstrated that his game translates just as effectively to hard courts — following his comeback win over Canadian Liam Draxl in the first round with this convincing defeat of a seeded opponent. The young Spaniard's ascent looks far from over.
