In round 4 of the US Open, First&Red Ambassador Alexander Bublik will try to take down the tournament's current champion Jannik Sinner
The 24-year-old Sinner has only lost to two players this season, including three times to Carlos Alcaraz (in Rome and at Roland Garros, and one more time in Cincinnati due to illness). The other hero who defeated the world's top-ranked leader is Alexander Bublik in Halle, Germany.
This summer, Bublik has performed extremely well and is heading into his seventh career showdown with Sinner on an 11-match winning streak. It started in Gstaad and continued to Kitzbühel and New York. In 2025, only Carlitos has won more titles than Bublik: three to six.
In New York, 28-year-old Bublik has already taken a long-awaited step forward by reaching the 1/8 finals of the US Open for the first time in his career. The main driver of his success is serving. In the first three matches, Bublik's opponents had a total of 12 break points, but didn't score a single one. He also has 55 aces to his name and on average wins 87% of his first serve rallies. In his opening match with Croatian Marin Cilic, this figure was an astronomical 95% (42 rallies won out of 44). We know that Sinner is a different caliber than the defeated Cilic, Schoolkate or Tommy Paul. Bublik himself is the first to admit it, stating that he'll probably lose a couple of serves in the upcoming match.
Their head-to-head score is 4:2 in favor of the Italian player. But in their last three matches, Bublik won twice (both times in Halle). However, in their only Grand Slam battle this season, the clay courts of the French Open ended with Sinner winning three sets without any trouble. It was then that Bublik dropped his famous quip: "I almost got him guys".
Why are Grand Slam matches so different from other tournaments? It's all about the five-set format, which seems to be designed for major champions. In these matches, the mental aspect of a player's gameplay comes into effect along with the physical. At Roland Garros, a lot of players lost to the king of clay, Rafael Nadal, even before the match began. They were tormented by the thought that if they wanted to win, they'd have to spend more than three high-intensity hours on a hot court with the Spaniard. Bublik recognizes this and notes that it's still hard for him to take down Sinner in this format.
Yannick could also lose the top spot in the rankings if he performs worse than Alcaraz in the US, so he has no problems with motivation. He's coming into the match against Bublik with his own impressive streak: 24 consecutive matches won at hard-court Grand Slams (Australian Open and US Open). A win over Bublik would put him on par with John McEnroe himself. The only players higher will be megastars like Ivan Lendl (26 wins), Novak Djokovic (two super series: 26 and 27 matches), and the undisputed king Roger Federer (40).
In 2024, Sinner became the first Italian tennis player in history to win in New York. At the start of the season, he already defended his title from last year in Melbourne. Now it's time to hit the replay button on the courts of Flushing Meadows too. Bublik is the last major obstacle for Yannick on his way to the final, where Alcaraz will likely be waiting for him. A final like this will make both organizers and fans happy. But Bublik loves and knows how to ruin a good time (in a good way). But to do it this time, he'll have to play the match of his life on Monday. Besides his serve, quick feet, a fresh head and well-timed drop shot, he's also counting on the fact that Sinner won't be at his best. As the Italian himself confirmed: "After all, I'm not a robot". Although at some point it's easy to doubt.
