Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan made ATP Tour history on Sunday, becoming the first player to win a tournament having lost the first set in each of his matches.
Bublik, the No. 2 seed, rallied yet again in beating Croatia’s Borna Coric, the fourth seed, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the finals of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, France.
Bublik won the same event in 2022 at the indoor hard-court ATP 250. He has four tour titles and will rise from No. 27 to a career-high No. 23 in the ATP rankings on Monday.
Improving to 2-0 in his career against current No. 37 Coric, Bublik had more aces (19-5) but also more double faults (6-1). He won 80 percent of first serve points (44 of 55), compared to 58 percent (23 of 55) for Coric.
Davis Cup qualifiers
Zizou Bergs defeated Duje Ajdukovic 6-1, 7-5 in Varazdin, Croatia, to clinch Belgium’s spot in the 2024 Davis Cup Finals.
Heading into the day tied at 1-1, Belgium got the doubles point thanks to a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory by Joran Vliegen and Sander Gille over Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic.
The day’s other winners who booked their spot in the finals were the Czech Republic (a 4-0 winner over Israel), France (4-0 over Chinese Taipei), Argentina (beat Kazakhstan 3-2) and Chile (3-2 over Peru).
–Field Level Media
