Alexander Bublik is the first player not named Carlos Alcaraz to beat Jannik Sinner in 49 matches. Bublik, who lost to the world No. 1 in the quarterfinals of the French Open a fortnight ago, ended Sinner’s defense of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle, Germany with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Sinner had not lost to someone other than Alcaraz since August 2024, when Russia’s Andrey Rublev beat him at the Canadian Open. But after dropping the first set in the face of a typically efficient Sinner performance, Bublik produced the level of tennis that makes him one of the most confounding players on the ATP Tour.
He can hit drop shots, trick shots, strange slices and vary spins with craft and guile, but unlike most players in that category, he also has a gigantic serve, as well as booming power off both groundstroke wings.
When he is in the mood, as he was Thursday, few can live with him — especially on grass, when his skidding slices cut through the court and his serve can feel borderline unreturnable.
For Sinner, coming off the physical and mental exertion of his five-hour-and-29-minute French Open defeat to Alcaraz, Bublik’s surge proved too powerful to stave off.
“I kept serving,” Bublik said when asked how he had stayed in the match. “I tried to be clutch. I tried to get back whatever I can. I mean he’s an unbelievable player. I was not thinking I could beat him.
“If I would have a few chances and I executed them well, and I kept serving, I had for certain better chance than at Roland Garros. I stayed there. Tried to return as much as I could. Serve aces so the ball doesn’t come back. That worked really well.”
And in fairness to Sinner, this was a day when all four of the Roland Garros finalists suffered hangovers of varying degrees.
Coco Gauff was also beaten, losing in the second round of the German Open in Berlin to Wang Xinyu, while Alcaraz had to dig extremely deep to win an epic against Jaume Munar at the same stage of the HSBC Championships at the Queen’s Club, London. Aryna Sabalenka, meanwhile, overcame a second-set wobble against Rebeka Masarova to come through in straight sets.
This is not a coincidence. Winning or losing in any major final is a physically and emotionally draining experience, let alone the kind of finals in Paris 11 days ago.
At Queen’s, Alcaraz looked as though he was heading for a second-round exit for the second straight year, before fighting off a 4-2 final set deficit to prevail in three sets after three hours and 26 minutes. It was the longest match at Queen’s since 1991, barely a week on from Alcaraz beating Sinner in the longest French Open final.
After the match, Alcaraz wrote “were we on clay?” on the camera, in reference to how long it had taken. It was a grueling, sweaty match played in temperatures of more than 30 degrees celsius (86 degrees fahrenheit) on the UK’s hottest day of the year, and Alcaraz showed his frustration at various points. He was especially annoyed after getting a time violation warning in the second set, for taking longer than the allotted 25 seconds between points. Alcaraz also felt like he was being hurried at various points thereafter. “I’m not used to do it,” Alcaraz said of his flashes of temper during the match. “Honestly, I use to control myself a little bit, my emotions.”
Hangovers, they’ll do that to you.
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The mercurial talent faces world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the French Open quarterfinals. But who is the more normal tennis player?
Alcaraz will play a quarterfinal Friday against France’s Arthur Rinderknech, but may feel he has enough grass-court miles in the tank after the drawn-out, physical encounter with Munar. Sinner and Gauff by contrast risk being undercooked for Wimbledon, though last year Alcaraz went out at this stage and ended up winning the title at the All England Club a few weeks later anyway.
And while Sinner may feel disappointed to have finally lost to a player other than Alcaraz, only at Wimbledon will it become clear whether he is suffering from any real letdown after losing to the Spaniard in such heartbreaking circumstances in Paris.
Where Gauff and Sinner differ from Alcaraz last year is that grass is a surface they’ve never fully proved themselves on.
The same could be said of Sabalenka, even if that’s partly down to her having to miss Wimbledon last year because of injury, and in 2022 when Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from the event. Her opponent in the Berlin quarterfinal Friday is Elena Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in Sabalenka’s absence three years ago.
The main draw of this year’s event gets under way June 30.
[New York Times]
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