(Paris) Kazakh Alexander Bublik, 27e world, won the ATP 250 tournament in Montpellier on Sunday by dominating in the final the No.37, the Croatian Borna Coric 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
This is the fourth title on the circuit for the 26-year-old, who had already won in Montpellier in 2022.
He succeeds the winners of the Montpellier tournament to the Italian Jannik Sinner, recent winner of the Australian Open.
Bublik, 26, is expected to reach 23 on Mondaye world place, the best ranking of his career.
The No.2 seed led 4-1 in the first set before being caught. He was then two points from the set at 5-4 for him on Coric’s serve but it was his opponent who broke it in the next game.
In the second set, the Kazakh started to attract Coric to the net with numerous drop shots and managed the break, to once again lead four games to one.
This time, he managed to maintain his lead then again take the service of the former world No.12 to equalize at one set all.
Bublik, impressive on serve with 19 aces in total, broke a visibly annoyed Coric, who seemed to be losing his tennis, from the start of the third set.
The Kazakh, however, had to erase two break points at 3-1, then one at 4-2, before being able to lift the trophy.
“I have no words, I was almost eliminated in the first round [contre Shapovalov] and here I am with the title,” explained the man who lost each of the first sets in his four matches this week.