PARIS : Britain’s Jack Draper was sent packing from the French Open when he stumbled to a 5-7 6-3 6-2 6-4 fourth-round defeat against mercurial Kazakh Alexander Bublik on Monday.
The result ended the British presence in the singles at Roland Garros as Draper, seeded fifth, lost the plot after a promising opening set against Bublik, who will now face Russia’s Andrey Rublev or world number one Jannik Sinner of Italy.
Draper, who had never got past the first round in Paris before this year, burst into the limelight by reaching the U.S. Open semi-finals in 2024 and had high hopes for the clay court Grand Slam having reached the Madrid Open final last month.
But Bublik tortured him with a barrage of drop shots (37), 12 of them winners, as he showed his full potential on the biggest stage to reach his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.
“You know, sometimes in life there is only one chance and I had the feeling that today was mine, I was not going to let it slide,” an emotional Bublik said on court.
“Standing here is the best moment of my life, period. That’s amazing, merci mesdames et messieurs,” he told the crowd, who broke into chants of ‘Bubu, Bubu!’.
“I’m standing here like I won the thing. I can’t cry here, let me be in peace, I’m a professional tennis player, I’ve got one more match, I’ve got to get ready.”
After getting the measure of Draper’s heavy hitting, Bublik loosened up and the last three sets were one-sided.
Things got tight when he served for the match as the man who took a trip to Vegas to unwind so he could come back and outplay the ‘Robots’ on the circuit served two double faults and got a taste of his own medicine when Draper set up break point with a superb drop shot.
But Bublik, who will be back in the top 50 after a free-fall from 17th place, closed it out with a big serve to the delight of the supporting crowd.
