ASTANA – Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, world’s No.45, defeated top-ranked Italy’s Jannik Sinner with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the second round of the Halle grass-court tournament on June 19 in Germany.
Photo credit: tengrisport.kz
Sinner, the Halle defending champion, was playing in his first tournament since losing a five-set thriller to Carlos Alcaraz in the Roland-Garros final.
The three-time Grand Slam champion had beaten Yannick Hanfmann in the first round this week, but the big-serving Bublik gained some revenge after having lost to Sinner in the quarterfinals in Paris, reported the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation’s press service on June 20.
“It is a special one – I had never beaten the top one (No. 1) in the world, that is an accomplishment,” Bublik said in his on-court interview.
Bublik recorded 36 winners and 15 aces against the top-seeded Sinner in the Wimbledon warmup tournament.
“I just kept serving, kept putting him in uncomfortable positions and it worked well,” said Bublik, the 2023 Halle champion who will face Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac in the quarterfinals.
