Alexander Bublik put his past grass-court heartache behind him in style Sunday at the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. The inimitable Kazakhstani delivered a classy all-around performance to down Andrey Rublev 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in the championship match at the ATP 500 for the biggest title of his career.
Bublik stepped on court inside OWL Arena with an 0-2 record in grass-court tour-level finals after he fell just short of the title in Newport in both 2019 and 2022. Yet he showed no sign of nerves on Sunday, particularly in an opening set during which he delighted the Halle crowd with clean, imaginative shotmaking, as he clinched a 95-minute triumph against the third-seeded Rublev.
“It really means the world to me,” said Bublik. “I’ve been struggling for half a year and now having this a reward, I don’t take it for granted. It was hard work. I was walking through the little hall of fame here before entering the court for the very first time against Struff [in the second round], and I was like ‘Wow, the different names, a lot of guys I’m familiar with. That would be nice maybe to have it one day’.
“But I could not even imagine that I would win this tournament, and I’m really, really happy.”
As he had all week in Halle, Bublik produced a dominant serving performance to limit the big-hitting Rublev’s opportunities on return. The Kazakhstani’s level from the baseline was also consistently high, as he disrupted his opponent’s rhythm with a mixture of huge groundstrokes and drop shots.
Bublik broke in the second game of the first and third sets and stayed solid on serve thereafter to claim both and secure the title. Inbetween, Rublev had dug deep to level the match with a resilient second-set showing, but Bublik’s ability to strike winners kept him in command. The Kazakhstani finished with a tally of 42 winners (including 21 aces) to Rublev’s 23.
Even under pressure, Bublik stuck to his all-or-nothing approach on serve. He produced three double faults when serving for the match at 5-3 in the third set but crucially landed a huge first delivery to save break point at 30/40 before going on to secure his win, his first in four Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against Rublev.
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It was a second ATP Tour title for Bublik, who also lifted the trophy on the indoor hard courts of Montpellier in 2022. His run in Halle, where he also moved past seeded opponents Borna Coric, Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev, will propel the 26-year-old to a new career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking on Monday. He is currently up 22 spots at No. 26 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.
Rublev was trying to become the first player to win an ATP 500 crown on three different surfaces since the category was introduced in 2009. The 25-year-old, who also reached the Halle final in 2021, was chasing his first tour-level grass-court title in Germany.
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