Alex de Minaur has suffered his earliest grand slam exit in two years, giving up a two-set lead to lose to chaotic Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the second round at Roland-Garros on Thursday.
Bublik roared to life early in the third set after dropping the first two in an hour of ineptitude to eventually stun ninth-seeded de Minaur 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 in front of a captivated court 14 crowd that got far more than it bargained for.
It is just the third time in de Minaur’s career that he has lost from two sets up – and the first since his heartbreaking fourth-round defeat to Cristian Garin at Wimbledon in 2022.
The loss snaps the world No.9’s streak of four major quarter-final appearances in a row and places his top-10 ranking in serious jeopardy ahead of Wimbledon, which could place a dent in his hopes of a deep run there.
De Minaur’s nine trips to Roland-Garros have now delivered four first-round and four second-round defeats, to go with last year’s shock last-eight run on a surface he had traditionally struggled on.
Adam Walton, who faces Andrey Rublev in the second round, and Alexei Popyrin, who is preparing for a round-of-32 showdown with Casper Ruud’s conqueror Nuno Borges on Friday, are the last Australians standing in the men’s draw. Daria Kasatkina will try to reach the third round on the women’s side on Thursday.
Disappointed Demon: Alex de Minaur is out of the French Open in the second round.Credit: Getty Images
As with all Bublik matches, it was predictably wild, offbeat, frenetic, entertaining and at-times uncompetitive – but ended in spectacular fashion with a sustained period of hitting that de Minaur had no answer for.
He flayed 37 of his 51 winners in the final three sets to blow de Minaur away as the Australian’s unforced errors not coincidentally spiked under the sustained assault.
Bublik experienced such a purple patch that he ended the fourth set with a remarkable reflex ’tweener before drilling a down-the-line backhand past de Minaur at the net. He stood in the middle of the court, arms outstretched, and soaked in the crowd’s adoration.
By then, de Minaur was in major trouble, and Bublik’s momentum was like a runaway train.
Momentum: Alexander Bublik steamrolled de Minaur after going two sets down.Credit: Getty Images
The Kazakh’s mid-match surge started in similar fashion with an outrageously good point early in the third set, after which he wagged his finger then bowed once he returned to the baseline. This was the best version of reality TV.
There were few signs after the first two sets of what was to come, given Bublik’s drop shot obsession and error-filled, rushed play offered such feeble resistance to de Minaur until then.
But his sudden strategic shift from the start of the third set to hit his way out of trouble from the baseline paid immediate dividends.
De Minaur’s downfall kick-started with a double fault – one of his eight for the match – that gifted former world No.17 Bublik a 2-0 advantage in the third set.
De Minaur in action on the red clay of Paris.Credit: Getty Images
The Australian No.1’s serving was underwhelming in his first-round win over Laslo Djere and even in the first two sets against Bublik, but became a major problem as the match wore on as the Kazakh went on the attack.
De Minaur landed fewer than half of his first serves and will be desperate to correct that for the grasscourt season.
Bublik shelved the drop shot for a period as he regained a foothold in the contest, but then began using it at much wiser junctures as a complementary weapon to his rocket-launcher groundstrokes.
Any hope of de Minaur arresting Bublik’s momentum and swinging the match back in his favour in the final set soon evaporated. He immediately faced a break point in his opening service game, and Bublik went full throttle on an inside-out backhand that de Minaur found too hot to handle.
That break of serve handed Bublik his first lead in the match since 2-0 in the opening set. Consecutive de Minaur errors in the fifth game effectively sealed his fate as his Kazakhstan rival snatched a second break.
Bublik has slipped to 62nd in the rankings and started this fortnight with a 7-13 record for the year, but his best tennis remains breathtaking and can threaten almost anyone on tour.
De Minaur, who remains vulnerable to the world’s biggest hitters, discovered that the hard way as his claycourt campaign ended abruptly, only weeks after announcing he was ready to challenge anyone on the red dirt.
Watch all the action from Roland-Garros live & on-demand on Stan Sport, with two courts in 4K. Coverage of select matches free-to-air on 9GemHD and streaming on 9Now
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