The French Open seems to have lit a fire under Alexander Bublik.
The 28-year-old made a surprising quarterfinal run at Roland Garros and–aside from a first-round hiccup at Wimbledon–has not looked back. Bublik’s grass-court swing included a title in Halle, where he defeated Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev. The world No. 30 went back to clay after leaving the All-England Club and promptly lifted the trophy in Gstaad.
Now he is one win away from a third title in the span of four tournaments, having rolled into the Generali Open final with victories over Thiago Agustin Tirante, Alexander Shevchenko, and Botic van de Zandschulp. The No. 1 seed has not dropped a single set, nor has he even been pushed to a tiebreaker. In fact, no set has been more competitive than 6-4.
Whereas Bublik has played in 13 ATP finals (6-7 record), this marks Arthur Cazaux’s first such appearance. The 22-year-old Frenchman is through to a maiden final after defeating Iganacio Buse, Francisco Comesana, Jan-Lennard Struff, and Arthur Rinderknech. Thus continues a strong run of form for Cazaux, who advanced to the Wimbledon second round as a qualifier and is coming off a semifinal showing in Gstaad.
It was none other than Bublik who stopped Cazaux last week via a 6-1, 7-5 decision. That made the head-to-head series 2-0 in favor of the Kazakh, who previously prevailed 6-4, 7-6(1), 6-4 last summer at Wimbledon. Needless to say, it will be difficult for Cazaux to turn the tide in Kitzbuhel on Saturday.
When Bublik is hot, he can be almost unplayable. And right now he is scorching hot.
Pick: Bublik in 2
