Alexander Bublik turns "disaster" on its head to deny Denis Shapovalov three match points

On Tuesday in Montpellier, Denis Shapovalov picked up his first tour-level win since his fourth-round showing at Wimbledon last July. In prime position to reach the quarterfinals of the Open Sud de France Wednesday, the Canadian could only watch as Alexander Bublik staved off three match points to prevail, 1-6, 7-6 (12), 6-3.

“Playing him was a disaster the first couple of the sets. I was lucky at the end, used my chances,” Bublik said on court.

The No. 2 seed impressively denied Shapovalov all three opportunities to cross the finish line by serving and volleying his way out of trouble. Bublik’s first save came at 5-6 in the second set. Shapovalov had a play on his opponent’s drop volley but was unable to clear the net.

In the tie-break, Bublik missed four chances to close out the set before the left-hander came within a point of winning at 9-8 and 11-10. On both of those occasions, the Kazakh’s volley reply was strong enough to result in an eventual put away—the latter involving a well controlled half-volley pickup.

Bublik then broke in his first return game to keep the momentum in the deciding set, and rode that advantage out to victory.

“France is my second home,” charmed Bublik, who celebrated his maiden ATP triumph here two years ago.

Shapovalov, who played with strapping around and above his left knee—the area that forced him to miss the back half of the 2023 season - had more tape added during a medical timeout at 0-3 before playing on.

Bublik improved to 3-0 in the pair's head-to-head series.