By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, October 30, 2025Photo credit: Rolex Paris Masters Facebook
Taylor Fritz threw his towel into the court-side towel box in frustration exhaling in angst.
Alexander Bublik can be a maddening opponent and today he flummoxed Fritz 7-6(5), 6-2 to advance to his maiden Rolex Paris Masters quarterfinal.
Bublik scored his fifth Top 5-win of the season and joined No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz as only the second man to earn Top-5 wins on clay, grass and hard in 2025.
Players to earn Top-5 wins on grass, clay and hard courts in 2025:
Carlos Alcaraz Alexander Bublik 🙌#RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/t5TcT2yaaL
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2025
It’s a match Fritz may well feel slipped through his fingers. Fritz gained four set points at the end of the opening set—all four coming on the Kazakh’s serve—but Bublik stood up to the stress.
Serving at 4-all, Fritz fired an ace to erase a break point, eventually holding for 5-4.
The American, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday, held a couple of set points in the 10th game. Bublik save the first when Fritz shanked a forehand return and erased the second set point with the drop shot backhand pass down the line combination. Bublik, knowing Fritz is averse to net, carved out his fourth drop shot of the game holding to level after 10 games.
The fourth seed cruised through a love hold for 6-5 then earned two more set points in the 12th game. Bublik cranked a forehand winner down the line then save a fourth set point with an ace wide.
After those missed opportunities, Fritz wen up 4-2 and then 5-4 in the first-set tiebreaker, but could not close. Bublik banged a big serve followed by an ace for his first set point. When Fritz’s forehand down the line missed the mark, Bublik stole the 52-minute opener.
Empowered by that set, Bublik exploited a wild, wide double fault to earn triple break point in the sixth game. Bublik scored the love break for a 4-2 lead on the strength of a forehand winner.
‘For the first time in my career I have a big milestone really close’ 🙏
Alexander Bublik explains his motivation this week at #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/FI8E61b8px
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2025
“Maybe the first time in my career I have a big milestone close to me,” Bublik said. “I think if I would just relax and say I don’t want to play anymore, I’m tired, I’m injured or whatever I would just blame myself after it.
“You don’t have may chances to hit the Top 10, to be at least an alternate for [ATP Finals], if you have this chance, you’ve got to use it. You’ve got to give 100 percent because in the next year I have to start defending my points. It’s going to be tougher.
“For me, I’m closer and closer to the goal I never think I could achieve. And then with this you have a little more extra inside of you if you’re not cracking under the pressure.”
On his fourth match point, Bublik slammed a forehand return winner down the line closing in one hour, 26-minutes. Bublik, who improved to 36-20 on the season, continues his quest for a fifth title in 2025. Next up for Bublik is sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur, who was a 6-2, 6-2 victor over 2018 champion Karen Khachanov.
