ATP Tour

Bublik overcomes double-fault dip to seal Kitzbühel SF spot

Top seed and defending champion Alexander Bublik capped a quartet of dominant last-eight performances on Thursday at the Generali Open.

The No. 11 player in the PIF ATP Rankings notched a 6-3, 6-2 triumph against Alex Molcan to book his semi-final spot at the clay ATP 250 event in Kitzbühel. On a day in which all the quarter-finals were won in straight sets, Bublik converted four of eight break points he earned to power past Molcan in 70 minutes and set a last-four meeting with Tomas Martin Etcheverry.

Thursday’s encounter was not all plain sailing for Bublik, who led by a set and a break at 2-1 in the second set when he gifted Molcan a break back by serving five double faults in a single game.

“The most important shot in tennis is the serve, so everyone who is watching can take really good advice from this game,” Bublik joked in his on-court interview. “You can serve five double faults, you can still win the match.”

Despite that hiccup, Bublik produced a largely rock-solid showing to avenge his defeat to Molcan in Munich in April and level the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1. The 29-year-old is the first defending champion to reach the semi-finals in Kitzbühel since Robin Haase in 2013.

Earlier, Etchverry downed fifth seed Ignacio Buse 6-2, 7-5 to advance. The 26-year-old Argentine will on Friday take on Bublik in his 10th ATP Tour semi-final, all of which have come on clay.

“I think he’s a great player,” Bublik said of Rio de Janeiro champion Etcheverry. “This year he won his first ATP title on clay. I’ve played him already [a couple] of times. This is going to be a very challenging match but I’ll just try to get ready, hope to be feeling well, and I’m just going to serve well.”

In the bottom half of the draw, Yannick Hanfmann added to his excellent record in Kitzbühel by cruising past 2023 champion Sebastian Baez 6-3, 6-1. The German is now 15-7 at the Generali Open, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, and on Friday will make his fourth semi-final appearance in the Austrian Alps.

The oldest semi-finalist in tournament history at the age of 34 years and eight months, Hanfmann will meet Quentin Halys for a spot in the championship match. Like Hanfmann, Halys also defeated an Argentine to reach the last four, in Mariano Navone. Halys prevailed 7-5, 6-3 against Navone to earn his personal-best 17th tour-level win of the year, with the Frenchman up 11 spots to No. 72 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings as a result of his Kitzbühel run so far.