MONTPELLIER/WASHINGTON, February 3, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
Second seed Alexander Bublik reached his 10th career ATP Tour final at the Open Sud de France following a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime Saturday afternoon. The two-hour, 37-minute win lifted the 27th-ranked Russian-born Kazakh into his second final in Montpellier, a title he won in 2022.
On Sunday, Bublik will go after his fourth tour-level title and first since winning at Antwerp last fall. His opponent will be No. 37 Borna Coric of Croatia, seeded fourth, who won by retirement over World No. 7 and top seed Holger Rune of Denmark after 57 minutes, ahead 6-3, 4-1.
Just. Like. That. 💥@BublikAlexander defeats Auger-Aliassime 4-6 6-4 6-4 to reach a 10th tour-level final 💪#OSDF24 pic.twitter.com/KIvyZsXJIz
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 3, 2024
Give credit to the personable Bublik, who by reaching the semifinals already guaranteed himself of a new career-high ranking of No. 23 after winning his third straight match this week after dropping the first set.
“It was a draining match,” said Bublik, who improved to 9-2 in Montpellier matches. “I’m happy to get through. Playing Felix is a tough challenge, especially indoors. I left it all out there.”
Indeed, Bublik undertook a challenging – if not meandering – route to garner a rewarding triumph against the 30th-ranked Canadian, in which he needed four set points to level the semifinal at a set each. Then, he fought through a 20-point, 17-minute-plus opening game in the decider before breaking Auger-Aliassime on his fifth break-point opportunity. Bublik’s aggressive play and heavy ball striking proved too much for Auger-Aliassime, who will move up to No. 28 in next week’s ATP Rankings.
🔜 FINALE pic.twitter.com/yXzeuuGu1L
— Open Sud de France (@OpenSuddeFrance) February 3, 2024
By the end, the 26-year-old Bublik won three of the last four games of the match to level his head-to-head with Auger-Aliassime at 2-all. He hit a service winner on his second match point to wrap up his sixth win of the season and the 133rd of his career. Bublik fired 14 aces, converted three of nine break points and outpointed Auger-Aliassime 105-98.
Bublik became the fourth player to make multiple Montpellier finals, behind Richard Gasquet (6), Gaël Monfils (4) and Alexander Zverev (2).
✅ Gasquet (6)
✅ Monfils (4)
✅ Zverev (2)
✅ Bublik (2)@BublikAlexander becomes the fourth player to reach multiple Montpellier finals 👏#OSDF24 pic.twitter.com/Rg5DkngzXk— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 3, 2024
Rune cuts short second semifinal with forearm injury
Meanwhile, Rune cut short the second semifinal due to an injured right forearm, in which he received treatment during a medical time out at the third-game change over of the second set.
By the finish of the abbreviated semifinal, Coric had broken Rune’s serve four times in 10 opportunities and outpointed him 50-29. The Croatian has not dropped a set this week in three matches.
Final bound 🫡@borna_coric is into the Montpellier final after Rune retires 6-3 4-1 down 😔#OSDF24 pic.twitter.com/hKluGKn5q1
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 3, 2024
With the win, Coric has advanced to his first tour-level title match since winning the 2022 Cincinnati Masters.
“It wasn’t easy,” Coric said in his on-court interview. “I didn’t come into the match very good. But I was lucky with the [first-set] break and I started to feel better. In the second set, I thought he was injured. It was not easy for me to finish the match. Obviously, I was not happy with the way it finished.”
Around the Open Sud de France
No. 1 seeds Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul of France advanced to Sunday’s doubles final after defeating No. 3 seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Henry Patten of Great Britain, 7-5, 7-6 (2), in an hour and 33 minutes. The French duo combined to hit four aces and dropped just three first-serve points. They outpointed their opponents 70-60.
Doumbia and Reboul, who improved to 5-3 this season, will face No. 4 seeds Albano Olivetti of France and Tristan Weissborn of Austria in the title match.
Saturday’s Open Sud de France results
Sunday’s Open Sud de France order of play
By the numbers
The 2024 Montpellier semifinal lineup contained all-Top Four seeds for the first time in the tournament’s 14-year history. It is the first ATP Tour semifinal of the season with all-Top Four seeds and the first since the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals (No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Daniil Medvedev, No. 4 Jannik Sinner).
“Quotable …”
“Everything here is set up well. I like the center court, it’s big. The court has suited me well here. I’ve been to two finals. That’s a good sign.”
— No. 2 seed and 2022 Montpellier champion Alexander Bublik, during his post-match news conference.
