Jack Draper out of French Open after Alexander Bublik masterclass at Roland Garros

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ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — Jack Draper, the British No. 5 seed, is out of the French Open after being bewitched by a mind-bending performance from the mercurial Alexander Bublik.

Draper was a big favourite going into the match against the unseeded Bublik, but he found himself increasingly frazzled on the way to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 defeat. Bublik has been ranked as high as world No. 17, but during the tournament has spoken openly about how he’ll never match the unstinting work ethic and dedication of the top players on the tour, including Draper.

Currently ranked No. 62, he had never before reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal, but his mixture of easy power and outrageous shotmaking skills and variety can make him borderline unplayable on any given day.

Monday was one of those days. Draper said after beating Gaël Monfils last week that his brain was “fried” during their match. It seemed on fire at times against Bublik, who would bullet an ace one moment, then chuck in a feathered drop shot the next, all the while changing the spins and power he was putting on the ball to keep Draper guessing.

After falling down a set and a break, it briefly looked as though Bublik might lose interest as has often been his wont. When two sets down to the No. 9 seed Alex de Minaur in the second round, Bublik said afterward that his mind wandered to the logistics of getting home to Monte Carlo, where the Kazakh lives.

Instead, it was Draper who looked like he’d lost concentration. The Brit is one of the biggest hitters on the tour, but Bublik stopped giving him pace to work with and Draper couldn’t generate enough of his own. He started to lose confidence in his forehand and serve, and Bublik was relishing his role as the provocateur. After Draper double-faulted early in the third set, Bublik turned to his box and gave them a wink. It brought back memories of Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo doing the same thing to his team’s substitutes’ bench, after England’s Wayne Rooney had been sent off in the 2006 World Cup quarterfinal. Bublik’s message was clear: I’ve got this guy.

“The third set I let myself down for sure,” Draper said in his news conference.

Bublik gave his box another meaningful look at the start of the fourth set, after sending an outrageous forehand passing shot flying past his stricken opponent. It helped Bublik break to love in a game that also included two return winners and a drop shot that Draper couldn’t get near.

“I don’t play many matches where I feel like it’s almost out of my control what’s going on, and he made that happen today,” Draper said.

“I didn’t know what to do.”

Alexander Bublik’s array of shots sent Jack Draper into a tailspin from which he never recovered. (Dimitar Dilkoff / AFP via Getty Images)

That proved to be the decisive moment, as Bublik served his way through the rest of the set to reach a first major quarterfinal, fending off three break points in a typically madcap final game that included a drop shot that hit the net and dribbled over, two double faults, and a feathered volley winner. Draper, who looked down and out when Bublik went up 15-0 in that game, turned it into a potential turning point with an absurd get, flicking a ball back over the net from behind his back.

Bublik visibly tensed up after that point and started going for broke with his serve, revealing afterwards that he believed it was then or never. “Sometimes I have a feeling like there is only one chance,” he said in his news conference, adding that had he been broken, then he would have lost the set 7-5 and the decider 6-2. “I would not even try to fight,” he said.

Instead, Bublik said in his on-court interview that the feeling when it was all over was “the best moment of my life.”

On the other side, a disappointed Draper was left regretting a few near misses in the final game. Draper can still take a huge amount from a clay-court swing that has taken him up to No. 5 in the world and will likely see him ranked No. 4 next Monday when the world rankings update.

For Bublik, a Roland Garros quarterfinal is not a bad effort for a player who said last week that: “I’m the guy you can see me having a nice time down the street in Paris in the evening before the match. Not to go crazy, but I’m social. I can skip the practice if I don’t feel like it, and I think it’s pretty normal.”

After setting up a possible last-eight meeting with the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Bublik was asked whether beating Draper would lead to a change in his application levels, given that doing so might lead to more moments like this.

“The good thing about this question is you mentioned that you ‘might get,’” Bublik said.

“Will I put my life and health on the line to have a “might”? A maybe? No.”

(Photo: Julian Finney / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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