Alexander Bublik came out smiling from a topsy-turvy first-round match on Wednesday at the Mutua Madrid Open.
The opening set of the Kazakhstani’s 7-6(15), 6-7(4). 6-4 win against Daniel Elahi Galan was ended by the longest tie-break of the 2023 ATP Tour season so far. After 25 minutes and 32 points of tie-break play, Bublik finally moved ahead by converting his fifth set point.
Galan had already spurned seven set points of his own in the opening set, although the Colombian made amends in the second as he won another tie-break to level the match. Galan was unable to complete the job from 2-0 in the decider, however, as Bublik rallied to a remarkable two-hour, 50-minute triumph at the Caja Magica.
“When you don’t win a lot, it’s tough to finish matches, and I never felt it before because [for the past few seasons I made] 35-plus wins on the season,” Bublik told ATPTour.com. “[So far this year] I only have five, so finishing matches is not easy. I hope to get the momentum back, play better, and win more matches.”
Now 5-14 for 2023, Bublik will next take on sixth seed Holger Rune at the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 in the Spanish capital. Wednesday’s marathon tie-break may serve as inspiration for the 25-year-old against Rune, although the World No. 55 would rather try and avoid winning the hard way again.
“It’s very tough playing tennis when you are out of shape, out of rhythm,” said Bublik. “That’s why this thing happened. Last year, if I’d played the same match, it wouldn’t have happened.”
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