ATP500: Shocking Loss of Alcaraz, Bublik Wins Way to R16

The digest of the first round of Astana Open tennis tournament

By Gleb Klimenko

ktf.kz

QazMonitor reports the surprising outcomes of the first round of ATP500 Astana Open.

Alcaraz defeated

World number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain failed to cope with world No 66 David Goffin of Belgium in the first round of the tennis tournament, losing 5-7, 3-6.

Alcaraz lost the match without taking a set for the first time this season. Goffin, on the other hand, defeated No.1 ranked player for the third time in his career (he had previously beaten Rafael Nadal twice). In the second round of the Astana Open, the 31-year-old Belgian will face Adrian Mannarino of France.

Kukushkin couldn’t play his wild card well

Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin could not overcome the first-round singles barrier at the ATP 500 Astana Open in the capital of Kazakhstan.

At the start, Mikhail played against the sixth-ranked player of the world - Stefanos Tsitsipas. The meeting ended with the victory of the Greek with a score of 6-3, 6-4. Note that Kukushkin, ranked 221 in the world rankings, received a wild card for this tournament.

Bublik wins confidently

The leader of the men's team of Kazakhstan Alexander Bublik, ranked 43rd in the ATP ranking defeated the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor (54th place in the ATP ranking) 6-0, 4-6. 6-3. Bublik had 15 aces and five break points out of nine.

In the second round of the tournament the Kazakhstani will play with Hubert Hurkacz of Poland.

Only 30% of an article published on The Qazaqstan Monitor website may be used with a mandatory hyperlink provided to indicate the original source. To re-publish the full article, written permission from the editorial is required.