World No. 1 Jannik Sinner Stunned By Sensational Alexander Bublik In Halle
NewsThursday, 19 June 2025 at 23:00
Since last August, Sinner hasn't lost a tennis match to anyone not named Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard managed to beat the reigning ATP World No. 1 player three times since then, but no one else managed to outplay the three-time major winner.
Sinner kept beating players left and right, and that included his win over Bublik in the quarter-finals of the Roland Garros. It was the Kazakhstani's best-ever Grand Slam run, but it was ended by the top seed.
Two weeks later, Bublik got a chance for revenge. The two former Halle Open champions met already in the second round of this year's tournament, with the top seed being an obvious favorite, despite both being former champions.
After easily beating Bublik at the French Open, Sinner also started well in this match. He broke his opponent's serve already in the second game and led 3-0 after only a few minutes. The Italian held his serve with ease in the first set, losing only two points on his serve since breaking Bublik.
Thanks to that, Sinner was able to easily win the first set of the match 6-3, seemingly cruising towards a victory. At the start of the second set, the World No. 1 player even had four break point chances to be a set and a break up, but he couldn't use those chances.
Three of them came in the first game and one more in the third game, but thanks to great serving, which included nine aces in the second set, Bublik held his serve. But the World No. 45 player wasn't great just when serving.
Bublik created his first break point chances in the sixth game of the second set, and even though he needed three to eventually break the top seed, he got it done, and that was what ultimately mattered. Bublik then easily held his serve for the remainder of the set to win it 6-3, sending the match into the decider.
The question was whether Bublik would be able to keep the high level also in the third set, and he provided the answer quite early, creating two more break points. But Sinner also had two, but none of the first four chances to break were used.
The fifth and last break point of the third set came at 3-3, and it was Bublik who had it. This time, the Kazakhstani player didn't miss, breaking Sinner's serve. He then kept his cool, serving out the match to beat the World No. 1 player 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, recording the biggest win of his career.
Bublik will take on the seventh-seeded Tomas Machac in the quarter-finals of the tournament, trying to win his second trophy in Halle. After beating Sinner, he was obviously very proud of his win.
"We are tennis players and we try to win every match we play, but it is a special one. 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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