By Richard Pagliaro Thursday, October 30, 2025
Image source: Rolex Paris Masters Facebook
Taylor Fritz Frustrated, he threw the towel into the towel box on the sidelines and let out an anxious breath.
Alexander Bublik Today, he defeated Fritz 7-6(5), 6-2 and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters for the first time.
Bublik notched his fifth top-5 win of the season and joined No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz as the second man in 2025 to win top-5 on clay, grass and hard courts.
Top 5 wins in 2025 on grass, clay and hard courts:
Carlos Alcaraz
Alexander Bublik 🙌#rolexparismasters pic.twitter.com/t5TcT2yaaL— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2025
Fritz likely felt like the game slipped through his fingers. Fritz held four set points at the end of the first set – all on the Kazakh’s serve – but Bublik withstood the pressure.
After the service game was tied at 4, Fritz hit an ace to eliminate the break point and eventually chased the score to 5-4.
The American, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Tuesday, saved several set points in Game 10. Bublik saved the first set point when Fritz returned a forehand return and eliminated the second with a backhand passing combination. Bublik knew Fritz didn’t like going to the net and he hit his fourth lob of the game to tie the game ten games later.
The fourth seed easily held serve at 6-5 and then won two more set points in the 12th game. Bublik hit a forehand winner from the baseline and then saved the fourth set point with an ace.
After missing a chance, Fritz led 4-2 in the first set tie-break and then led 5-4 but failed to tie. Bublik served well and then hit an ace to get his first set point. Bublik opened the scoring in the 52nd minute when Fritz’s forehand missed the target.
On the strength of the set, Bublik took advantage of a wild double fault to earn three break points in the sixth game. Bublik got a love break with a forehand winner to lead 4-2.
“This is the first time in my career that I’m really close to a major milestone” 🙏
Alexander Bublik explained his motivations this week: #rolexparismasters pic.twitter.com/FI8E61b8px
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 30, 2025
“Maybe for the first time in my career I have a big milestone close to me,” Bublik said. “I think if I relaxed and said I don’t want to play anymore, I’m tired, I’m injured or whatever, I’d be blaming myself.
“You have no chance of being in the top ten, at least as a substitute [ATP Finals]if you have this opportunity, you must take advantage of it. You have to give 100% because next year I have to start defending my point of view. Things are going to be tougher.
“For me, I’m getting closer to goals that I never thought I could achieve. With this, if you don’t crack under the pressure, you have a little extra inside of you.”
On his fourth match point, Bublik hit a forehand return winner one hour and 26 minutes into the match. Bublik improved to 36-20 this season and will continue his pursuit of a fifth title in 2025. Bublik’s next opponent is sixth seed Alex De Minaur, who defeated 2018 champion Karen Khachanov 6-2, 6-2.
