Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik caused a major upset in the Halle Grass tournament by defeating defending champion Jannik Sinner. World number-1 player Sinner was defeated by 45th ranked Bublik 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. This is the first time Sinner has been beaten by a player outside the top-20 since summer 2023.
Sinner had beaten Bublik in just six games in the French Open quarter-finals, but this time Bublik performed brilliantly. So far, both have faced each other 6 times. Bublik said, ‘We tennis players try to win every match, but this victory is special. I defeated the number one player for the first time.’Bublik will now face Tomas Machak of the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals, who defeated Fabian Marozsan of Hungary 6-2, 6-3.
World number-3 Alexander Zverev entered the quarter-finals after defeating Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/2) in three sets. Zverev achieved his fifth victory against Sonego. After losing the first set, Zverev made a comeback in the second set and dominated the tiebreak of the third set. Now he will face Italy’s Flavio Cobolli.
In another match, 63rd-ranked Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina defeated fourth seed Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6) in a hard-fought three-hour match. Etcheverry saved two match points in the final set tiebreak and will now play Russia’s Karen Khachanov in the quarterfinals.