Defending champion Jannik Sinner suffered a surprise second-round exit at the Halle Open on Thursday, falling 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik in his first tournament since losing the French Open final.
The Italian world No. 1, who had beaten Bublik comfortably just weeks ago in the Roland Garros quarterfinals, was handed his first loss to a player ranked outside the top 20 since mid-2023.
With Wimbledon just 10 days away, Bublik – ranked No. 45 – earned only his second win in six meetings against Sinner, flipping the script on their Paris showdown and dealing a rare grass-court blow to the 23-year-old.
“We are tennis players and we try to win every match we play, but it is a special one,” Bublik said. “I had never beaten a No. 1 in the world. It is an accomplishment.”
Sinner, who had beaten Yannick Hanfmann in straight sets in the first round, cruised through the opening set against Bublik without facing a break point.
The Italian had three break points early in the second set, but Bublik held and then went on the attack, hitting 20 winners and securing the crucial break in the sixth game.
The 28-year-old broke Sinner’s serve in the deciding set with a flashing forehand.
“I had an amazing forehand to break in the third set and then I kept serving,” Bublik said. “On grass, if you lose your serve, it is maybe tough, and I am a guy who doesn’t lose a lot of serves. I just kept serving and putting him in uncomfortable positions and it worked well.”
“He is an unbelievable player and I was not thinking that I could beat him,” Bublik added. “But I had a few chances and executed them well.”
The Kazakh will face Tomas Machac in the quarterfinals after the Czech defeated Hungarian Fabian Marozsan 6-2, 6-3.
Earlier, world No. 3 Alexander Zverev rallied from a set down to defeat Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego.
The 28-year-old German won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2) against the 46th-ranked Sonego and will next face another Italian, Flavio Cobolli, for a place in the semifinals.
A finalist in Halle in 2016 and 2017, Zverev notched his fifth victory in as many meetings with Sonego, a year after beating him at the same stage of the same tournament.
Sonego took advantage of his only break opportunity in the first set at 4-3. Zverev struggled to break serve throughout but dug deep in the second, taking it 6-4, and dominated the final tiebreak.
Argentina’s 63rd-ranked Tomás Martín Etcheverry also reached the quarterfinals after a three-hour duel against fourth seed Andrey Rublev, winning 6-3, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (6).
Etcheverry saved two match points in the deciding-set tiebreak to set up a clash with Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
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