Did Bublik Just Stun Draper to Reach His First Grand Slam Quarterfinal?

Paris, June 3 (NationPress) Alexander Bublik from Kazakhstan has continued his astonishing journey in the French Open 2025, achieving a significant milestone by securing his first-ever quarterfinal appearance at the Grand Slam level. He accomplished this feat with a surprising four-set victory over Jack Draper on Monday.

Until now, Bublik had never advanced past the second round at this prestigious clay-court tournament since his junior days, but he managed to claim his second victory over a Top 10 player this week with a score of 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 against Draper.

Bublik previously made a stunning comeback against Alex de Minaur of Australia, defeating him after being down two sets. This victory marks a historic moment as Bublik becomes the first Kazakhstani man to reach a singles Grand Slam quarterfinal in the history of the sport.

"There are moments in life when you get just one chance, and I felt that this was mine, and I couldn't afford to let it go," said an emotional Bublik during an on-court interview, following a full minute of applause from the crowd at Court Suzanne-Lenglen. "Being here is the best moment of my life, no doubt about it."

Ranked No. 62 in the ATP Rankings, Bublik is now the lowest-ranked player to achieve two Top 10 victories at Roland Garros since No. 100 Andrei Medvedev defeated Pete Sampras and Gustavo Kuerten to reach the finals in 1999. The 27-year-old, who achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 17 last May, is on the verge of breaking into the Top 40 following his four wins in Paris.

Against Draper, who has climbed to No. 4 in the ATP Live Rankings this week, Bublik won 79 percent of his first-serve points and successfully converted five out of six break points, as reported by Infosys Stats. This victory was his first in three matchups with the British No. 1.

Bublik has only reached the fourth round at a major once before, at Wimbledon in 2023. The most surprising aspect of his advancement this time is not just that he has gone further, but that it is happening on the red clay of Roland Garros.

All four of Bublik's tour-level titles and 11 finals have been on hard or grass courts. His 25 wins and 41 percent win rate on clay leading into Roland Garros are the lowest among all surfaces.

This season, he reached the fourth round at the Madrid ATP Masters 1000 and won the Turin ATP Challenger Tour event on clay.

Bublik now looks to extend his remarkable journey at Roland Garros as he prepares to face either Jannik Sinner or Andrey Rublev, who are scheduled to compete in Monday evening's match to finalize the quarter-final lineup in Paris.