Alex de Minaur suffered a huge collapse at the French Open on Thursday as he was dumped out of the tournament by Alexander Bublik in the second round after blowing a two-set lead. The Australian became the 14th seeded player to exit the tournament, with a host of outsiders stunning the top stars since the tournament got underway on Sunday.
Di Minaur, who was seeded ninth, was favourite to win the match after reaching the quarter-finals last year and easing past Laslo Djere in straight sets in his opening match. And the world No. 10 was cruising after winning the first two sets 6-2, 6-2. But Bublik won the next three sets 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to book his place in the third round.
De Minaur had denied Bublik even one set on the last two occasions the players had met on the court. And their match at Roland Garros appeared to be heading the same way.
Bublik, however, had other ideas as he refused to roll over and he ultimately stunned his opponent by claiming a surprise victory in just under three hours.
And the victor, who had never progressed beyond the second round in Paris in the men’s singles, is set to meet Henrique Rocha in the third round after the Portuguese star pulled off a shock win against Jakub Mensik.
Three of the top 10 seeds have now exited the French Open, with fourth-seed Taylor Fritz falling at the first hurdle on Monday as he was defeated by Daniel Altmaier.
Seventh-seed Casper Ruud then blew a one-set advantage during his defeat to Nuno Borges in the second round and was ultimately embarrassed as he won just one game in the final two sets.
Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev, Grigor Dimitrov, Francisco Cerundolo and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who were all seeded in the top 20, have also been sent packing.
Following his defeat to Altmaier, Fritz said: “It’s kind of what’s been going on a bit lately. I think I’m playing generally fine. It’s just a lot of important points, I just am playing horrendous tennis on a lot of the important points.
“When I’m break point down, or I’ve got looks on his serve, like 0-30, 15-30, 30-30, break point – all the pressure, important points… I don’t know what’s going on. I’m finding ways to just play the worst point possible.”
Meanwhile, Ruud put his defeat down to an injury as he explained: “For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been kind of struggling a little bit with knee pain on and off. That’s why I decided to pull out of Geneva after Rome, do my best, and heal to be ready here.”
He added: “Well, it’s kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings, as well. You feel you’re obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events. You feel like you lose a lot if you don’t show up and play, both economically, point-wise, ranking-wise and opportunity-wise.”
