(Tennis news) Alexander Bublik finally secured his first ATP tour title in his fifth final as he beat Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 in the Open Sud de France at Montpellier. Bublik also recorded his first victory over a top 5 opponent and his second victory over Zverev after beating him at Rotterdam last year.
Bublik broke Zverev’s serve in the ninth game with superb defense which pressurized the German into making two unforced errors, the first one was an overhead at the net and the second one was a forehand into the net. Bublik put up with two overheads to break Zverev who was about to smash the racquet, if it was defense which gave the crucial break then the strategy was turned into offense for the final game of the set.
The six foot five inch player started attacking from the start in the second set and was also covering the court better than the first set. With a couple of forehand disguised drop shots, Bublik won the 5th and 6th game as Zverev lost eight points in a row. Bublik had a huge smile and jumped up in the air in celebration after winning the final point. Meanwhile Zverev will have to wait in line for his 20th title, the world number 3 was facing Bublik for the second time and is yet to take a set off his opponent.
Zverev had won the title here in 2017 and reached the semifinals the previous year as this was his third appearance in the main draw. He was on a six match winning streak at finals and had last lost a final at the 2020 Paris Masters 1000 to Daniil Medvedev. Zverev now has 10 career runner up finishes.
“I played four finals before and in the fifth final I have won against a great player against Sascha,” Bublik said. “It is great. All my games together. I was serving well and returned well and kept my nerve. I was lucky in the moments and when I had my chances I used them.”
With the title win the Kazakh moved to four places ahead in the rankings for his highest rank of 31. Having had a personal best of 35 wins last year, Bublik will certainly aim for more wins and enter the top 20 rankings this year. He will next play at Rotterdam in the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament where he will be playing against wildcard Andy Murray in the opening match.
Also read: Bopanna-Ramkumar pair lift Tata Open trophy
