Montpellier Open: Barrere moves into second round, defeating trophy holder Bublik (who totally imploded)

Frenchman Gregoire Barrere edged out Kazakh Alexander Bublik, the No 6 seed, 6-4, 6-7 (12), 7-6 (3) to reach the second round of the Montpellier Open at the Sud de France Arena on Wednesday evening.

Bublik was the trophy holder and smashed three racquets in a row when he was leading 6-0 in the last set tiebreak.

The defending champion had saved three match points in the tiebreak in the second set for force the decider; more than that, he led 4-2 in the third. But he couldn’t hang on to the lead and couldn’t keep himself together in the decisive tiebreak, with three painful double-faults causing him to fall 6-0 behind and to smash three racquets – and pick up an unsurprising and well-deserved warning for racquet abuse.

Bublik is now on a first-round losing streak that stretches back to the Paris Masters in October 2022, having lost his last five singles matches.

Barrere, ranked No 75, will face Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili next.

Montpellier ATP250, other first-round results (Sud de France Arena, hard, EUR 562.815, most recent results first):

• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (5) beat Ugo Humbert (WC): 1-6, 7-6 (2) ret.
• Emil Ruusuvuori (7) beat Mikael Ymer: 6-4, 6-0
• Arthur Rinderknech beat Luca Nardi (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Lorenzo Sonego beat Benjamin Bonzi (8): 6-3, 6-4
• Marc-Andrea Huesler beat Luca Van Assche (WC): 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Marton Fucsovics beat Geoffrey Blancaneaux (Q): 7-5, 5-7, 6-0
• Maxime Cressy beat Antoine Bellier (Q): 6-3, 6-2
• Quentin Halys beat Clement Chidekh (Q): 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
• Filip Krajinovic beat Aslan Karatsev: 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2
• Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Constant Lestienne: 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-2
• Arthur Fils (WC) beat Richard Gasquet: 7-5, 7-5