Comeback king Bublik battles past Coric to win Open Sud de France title
The Kazakh won the fourth title of his career, fighting back from a set down for a fourth consecutive match in Montpellier to beat Coric and lift the Open Sud de France trophy
Alexander Bublik wins 2024 Open Sud de France title in Montpellier © JB Autissier, Open Sud de France
Alexander Bublik recovered from a one-set deficit to defeat Borna Coric 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and win the Open Sud de France title for the second time in his career in an entertaining encounter.
Remarkably, the Kazakh has had to fight back from a set down to win in all four of his matches in Montpellier en route to the title.
This latest comeback has delivered Bublik his fourth career title and his third at the ATP 250 level, having also taken the trophy in Montpellier in 2022. This victory further underlines Bublik’s impressive prowess of indoor hard courts, coming just over three months after his previous title at the European Open.
He started the match in fine form, breaking Coric in the Croat’s opening service game to move into a 3-0 lead.
But the ever-resilient Coric struck back in the seventh game before breaking again in the eleventh as Bublik began to lose his focus and patience at the business end of the set.
An untimely double-fault from the Kazakh helped Coric on his way to that second break, before the Croatian held onto his serve to move into a one-set lead.
bublik once again overturns one-set deficit
Bublik has been no stranger to trailing by a set this week, however, and he gathered himself well to put on an excellent performance in the last two sets – his serving particularly impressive as it proved impenetrable for the remainder of the match.
Frequent forays to the net backed up by a rock-solid baseline game helped the Kazakh to two breaks in the middle stanza, as the comebacks that have been the trademark in Bublik’s matches in Montpellier this week appeared to be on the cards once again.
A former champion in Southern France, Bublik now had all the momentum as he raced into a 3-0 lead at the start of the decider courtesy of a break and two holds.
Coric fought valiantly until the end, tidying up his service games to keep his serve intact for the rest of the match and force Bublik to serve out for the title.
If the hope was that the Kazakh would tighten up at the finish line, however, it did not materialise as Bublik maintained his excellent level of serving to close out the win and clinch the fourth title of his career.
“I was on the verge of losing in my opening round, now here I am standing with the title,” Bublik said following the win.
“Thank you to the crowd for supporting me throughout the week. I’ve seen all these great champions out there, and my face is in the stadium (after winning in 2022).
“Maybe if I continue playing like this, I will have more of my pictures here, so I’m really happy.”
challenging title run underlines bublik’s quality
Bublik truly had to earn this trophy, as his opponents throughout the week were of a standard more reflective of a 500-level event than a 250. He came through in three sets against the Canadian duo of Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime, before again requiring three to knock out the ever-improving Alexander Shevchenko en route to today’s final.
For Coric, a first title since his brilliant victory at the 2022 Cincinnati Masters was not to be. However, after a tough period over the past six months during which he has once again been struggling with injury, there are many positives for the Croat to take from a runner-up finish in Montpellier.
But the day belongs to Bublik.
Following his maiden ATP title at this very tournament just two years ago, the Kazakh is now collecting them at an impressive rate. He finds himself close to his career-best ranking and is producing some of the most eye-catching tennis of his career so far.
Another 250-level trophy near the start of the season sets him up well for what could be a very exciting 2024.
