STARNBERG, January 12, 2021
Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan and Australia’s Alex de Minaur will meet in Wednesday’s singles final of the Antalya Open. No. 8 seed Bublik had to go the distance to overcome French veteran Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 in two hours and five minutes for a place in his third ATP Tour title match
“I got injured in the middle of the match and considered pulling out, but I said myself, ‘Okay, I will give it a try.’ I then served unbelievably, the best since Chengdu 2019. I served almost every serve full power and I was lucky to win the match,” said Bublik, who finished runner-up at 2019 Newport and Chengdu.
Earlier in the day, de Minaur knocked off No. 2 seed David Goffin of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The No. 4 seed capitalized on four of his five break point chances to secure victory in one hour and 51 minutes.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match, and I’d be under pressure when serving,” de Minaur told ATPTour.com. “I had to reset and go back to my game plan and my strengths after I lost the second set. I won some tough rallies in the third set and that helped me out for sure.”
Bublik and de Minaur will meet for the first time. “Alex can beat any player on any given day and he has lots of firepower,” said De Minaur. “So I will need to rest and prepare well ahead of the final.”
Pavic/Mektic take doubles title
In other action, Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic have captured their first team trophy. The top seed from Croatia, who have teamed up for the first time, defeated second seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Slovakian Filip Polasek 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles final, which lasted one hour and seven minutes.
“It’s a great start and couldn’t be any better, especially because it’s our first tournament together,” Mektic told ATPTour.com.
Pavic told ATPTour.com, “It’s always great to start the year like this as we’ve never played together before. It’s good to get a lot of matches and the goal, for me, is always to reach the [Nitto] ATP Finals, which was in London and now in Torino. It’s a good way to start.”
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