Griekspoor will get his man! Dutchman upsets second seed Bublik in Dubai

Dubai

Griekspoor will get his man! Dutchman upsets second seed Bublik in Dubai

Griekspoor earns first win in 5 conferences with Kazakhstani, Felix & Medvedev win

February 25, 2026

Tallon Griekspoor was compelled to attend two years for a fifth crack at defeating Alexander Bublik. On Wednesday on the Dubai Responsibility Free Tennis Championships, the Dutchman lastly snapped his shedding streak in opposition to his rival.

Griekspoor upset the second-seeded Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4) to seal his quarter-final berth on the hard-court ATP 500. The No. 25 participant within the PIF ATP Rankings broke the World No. 10’s famend serve within the second sport of the match and rode that success on return to the opening set. Within the second, Griekspoor escaped 0/40 to carry serve within the second sport earlier than profitable 4 of the ultimate 5 factors within the tie-break to seal his win.

Huge time Tallon 😤@Griekii overcomes Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4), snapping a four-match shedding streak in opposition to him, to advance to the final eight in Dubai!@DDFTennis | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/VUlR1oVHG6

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 25, 2026

The 82-minute quarter-final encounter came about two years after Griekspoor had heartbreakingly fallen in two tie-break units to Bublik in Dubai, his fourth defeat in as many tour-level conferences with the Kazakhstani. After his revenge success on Wednesday, the Dutchman improved to 1-4 within the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head collection.

Awaiting Griekspoor within the quarter-finals within the U.A.E. shall be Jakub Mensik. The sixth-seeded Czech eased previous Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2 to enhance to 13-3 for the season. The 20-year-old Mensik, who upset Jannik Sinner in Doha final week, is now 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head collection with Popyrin.

4 different seeded gamers booked their last-eight spots on Wednesday: Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Jiri Lehecka. Medvedev kicked off the day’s motion by ending 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka’s Dubai profession with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph. The third-seeded Medvedev, himself a Dubai titlist in 2023, will face Jenson Brooksby subsequent after the American upset seventh seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 6-4.

“I feel [I’m moving in the right direction],” mentioned Medvedev after notching his eleventh tour-level win of the yr. “Two good matches [so far in Dubai]. Convincing within the rating, which is typically extra necessary. I’ve extra time mentally to organize for the following spherical and I’m trying ahead to it.”

Prime seed Auger-Aliassime additionally loved a straight-sets second-round triumph. The Canadian blunted the big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard for a 6-4, 6-4 victory, and the World No. 8 will subsequent tackle Lehecka. The eighth-seeded Czech downed qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(6), 6-4.

The 2022 Dubai winner Rublev was compelled to dig a little bit deeper than a few of his rivals for a quarter-final spot. The fifth seed overcame one other former champion Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 to advance to face fourth seed Jack Draper or Arthur Rinderknech.

“I used to be simply attempting to do my job,” mentioned Rublev after his two-hour, 23-minute victory. “Making an attempt to play my tennis and maintain doing the issues I used to be doing. As quickly as I had the possibility to play aggressive, I attempted to go to the online, to concentrate on my serve, to serve arduous and put stress on his return, which was not straightforward as a result of he was serving tremendous arduous.”