Bublik sprinkles magic on grass to sink Sinner in Halle
Alexander Bublik has built on his shock Roland Garros run, sprinkling some of that clay-court magic on the grass courts of Halle as he earned the biggest win of his career over world No.1 Jannik Sinner at the pre-Wimbledon German tournament.
The enigmatic but immensely talented Kazakh Bublik, who reached the quarter-finals of the French Open before being beaten by Sinner, gained his revenge with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 triumph to reach the quarter-finals.
"We are tennis players and we try to win every match we play but it is a special one," Bublik said afterwards. "I had never beaten a number one in the world. It is an accomplishment."
Bublik brilliance 🔥 The 2023 champ manages to overcome the defending champ Sinner with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 win…@ATPHalle | #ATPHalle pic.twitter.com/a121ZCO4Wv
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 19, 2025
Continuing his dazzling form from Paris where he included Australian No.1 Alex de Minaur among his victims, Bublik fired 36 winners, including 15 aces, to overpower the top seed and earn a sensational win after two hours and four minutes.
"He is an unbelievable player and I was not thinking that I could beat him," said Bublik, who is the first player since last August other than Carlos Alcaraz to defeat the Italian.
"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."
But it was another tough loss for Sinner, in his first tournament since his heartbreaking five-and-a-half hour defeat by Alcaraz in the French Open final 11 days earlier.
It was a meeting of the last two champions of the event, with Bublik's only previous win over Sinner coming on the same stage two years ago.
That was by retirement after the Italian pulled out but here he was beaten fair and square, with Bublik using his huge serve and swashbuckling shotmaking to continue the best month of his career.
Second seed Alexander Zverev was also pushed all the way but survived a final-set tie-break to defeat Italy's Lorenzo Sonego 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-2).
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