After his 1-6 5-7 0-6 defeat at the hands of world No 1 Jannik Sinner at Roland Garros earlier this month, Alexander Bublik posted a cheeky reply on Instagram: “I almost got him guys”. On Thursday, Bublik did really get Sinner. The Italian star’s bid to win back-to-back Halle Open following a 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat by Alexander Bublik in the last 16. It brought an end to a remarkable ongoing stat for Sinner: this was his first defeat to a player outside the Top 20 since 2023. And it also Sinner’s first defeat since last August against a player not named Carlos Alcaraz.
Kazakhstan’s Bublik, who is currently ranked 45th in the world but been as high as No 17, ended Sinner’s streak of wins since Cincinnati 2024, a period in which he had lost only to Alcaraz in Beijing, Rome and, in that incredible final at Roland Garros earlier this month.
“We are tennis players and we try to win every match we play but it is a special one,” Bublik was quoted as saying by ATP. “I had never beaten a No. 1 in the world. It is an accomplishment. I kept serving. I tried to be clutch. I tried to get back whatever I [could]. He is an unbelievable player and I was not thinking that I could beat him. But I had a few chances and executed them well. I kept serving. I had better chances than at Roland Garros. I stayed there, tried to return as much and serve aces, so the ball doesn’t come back and it worked really well.”
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Going into the contest Sinner held a 4-1 win-loss record against Bublik, including that breadstick and bagel across three sets at the French Open. However, in Halle, Bublik now holds a 2-0 advantage over his Italian rival having also beaten Sinner en route to winning the grasscourt event in 2023.
The Italian began brightly as he sailed into a 3-0 lead on his way to winning the first set but eventually came unstuck as Bublik hit 36 winners, including 15 aces. Bublik saved three break points in the first game of the second set before gaining the crucial break to lead 4-2 and smashed three aces when holding serve to force the decider where a break to go 4-3 up proved decisive.
“It’s a very fast surface. He gave me a chance. I had an amazing forehand to break him in the third set,” Bublik said.
Sinner’s last loss to a player ranked outside the Top 20 came against Dusan Lajovic, then number 66 in the world, at Cincinnati in August 2023. Bublik will meet Tomas Machac in the quarter-finals after the Czech seventh seed eased to a 6-2 6-3 win over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan.
With Reuters inputs
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