Alexander Bublik proved a grass expert once more as he downed Alexander Zverev on home soil at the Halle Open to book his maiden final this year.
Alexander Zverev skipped the Stuttgart Open after experiencing some injury concerns at Roland Garros. The German opted to make his start on the green surface in Halle and it proved a good decision. Continuing his great form from clay, Zverev managed to advance all the way to the semi-final where he faced Alexander Bublik.
The Kazakh player has had a lot of problems this year as well failing to play good tennis more than once. The grass is one of his favourite surfaces and after an early exit at the Libema Open, Bublik caught fire in Halle. He beat some good players to set up this match against Zverev, hoping to avenge the Monte-Carlo loss from earlier this year.
The first set was literally Bublik being scorching hot from the baseline. He served 7 aces and added 15 winners dropping only two points behind his first serve. It was about as good as you can hope from Bublik who tends to be quite erratic at times. Zverev played a fair set as well but there wasn't much he could do against Bublik who demonstrated spectacular shot-making.
The German managed to avoid self-inflicting wounds like double faults but was overwhelmed by the power of Bublik. The second set was very similar though Bublik struggled with his serve a bit more which gave Zverev some chances. More generally, Bublik continued to smack the ball really well, especially on the second serve of Zverev.
Neither used their first break points; it was a close battle but Bublik's shot-making prevailed once more. He had twice as many winners as Zverev had in the match (35>17) which proved crucial. He risked more and was rewarded for it. The final score was 6-3 7-5 and he will face the winner of the match between Andrey Rublev and Roberto Bautista Agut in the final.
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