Griekspoor finally breaks the Bublik curse in Dubai.
In a match that felt like payback with a timer, Tallon Griekspoor defeated second seed Alexander Bublik in Dubai to reach the quarter-finals, ending a losing run and injecting some welcome drama into this ATP 500 hard-court week.
Griekspoor Ends Streak, Advances To Dubai Quarter-Finals
Griekspoor upset the second-seeded Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4), breaking the World No. 10’s serve early in the match and using his return to set the tone in the opening set before a tense second-set tie-break decided the match in straight sets.
He survived a perilous moment, escaping a 0/40 hold in the second game before finding a late surge in the breaker, winning four of the final five points to close it out, and keeping his composure when it mattered most.
The win completed a long-awaited reversal of fortune: two years after a heartbreaking double-tiebreak loss in Dubai, Griekspoor improved his Lexus ATP Head2Head record versus Bublik to 1-4, finally ending the four-match skid that had been hanging over him.
“I think [I’m moving in the right direction],”
Daniil Medvedev
That quote from Medvedev summed up the day for several winners, with Griekspoor joined by a handful of seeds who looked comfortable enough to believe their own hype and dangerous enough to give opponents sleepless nights.
Mensik Awaits As Seeds Hold Firm
Griekspoor will face sixth seed Jakub Mensik in the quarter-finals after Mensik beat Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2, improving to an eye-catching 13-3 for the season and carrying confidence from a recent upset of Jannik Sinner in Doha.
Mensik’s straight-sets win continues his season-long form and sets up a clash between a return-minded grinder in Griekspoor and a young Czech who mixes power and length on hard courts, a match likely to reward the cleaner ball-striker on big points.
Wednesday also produced wins for several other seeds: Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Jiri Lehecka all advanced, ensuring the last eight will be a mix of established stars and hungry youngsters who thrive on pace and precision.
Medvedev opened the day by ending Stan Wawrinka’s Dubai career with a tidy 6-2, 6-3 victory; the third seed and 2023 Dubai champion now has his 11th tour-level win of the year and looks increasingly comfortable on these courts.
The Russian will face Jenson Brooksby next after Brooksby upset seventh seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 6-4, a result that underlines Brooksby’s counterpunching threat and his ability to turn tight moments into match-winning opportunities.
Auger-Aliassime, Rublev And The Surface Factor
Top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime handled Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a straight-sets 6-4, 6-4 win and will meet Jiri Lehecka, who edged qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(6), 6-4, setting up a high-quality encounter where serve and timing should decide the outcome.
Andrey Rublev, the 2022 Dubai champion, had to work harder, beating Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 in a two-hour, 23-minute contest where Rublev tried to pressure with serve and occasional net forays to keep returns under duress.
Rublev described a focus on aggressive options when they appeared, trying to serve hard and put pressure on Humbert’s return, which the Russian noted was not easy given Humbert’s own serving form on the day.
On the other side of the draw, the Kazakh sharpshooter Alexander Bublik had earlier looked in excellent rhythm, beating Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4 in round one after withdrawing from Doha to prepare specifically for Dubai’s conditions.
Bublik’s first-round victory lifted him to 12 wins for the season, a tally that put him level with Carlos Alcaraz at the top of the 2026 match wins list and highlighted how dangerous he can be when he hits his spots.
Between the revenge narrative for Griekspoor, the steady march of seeds like Medvedev and Auger-Aliassime, and the younger stars pushing through, Dubai is shaping up as the sort of tournament where experience and fearless tennis meet in the later rounds.
Two years after his narrow tiebreak losses to Bublik, Griekspoor finally got his man and now faces a compact, tactical test in Mensik, while the rest of the field will need to be ready for players who can flip from defense to offense in a blink.
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Christoph Friedrich is a German tennis player and coach currently residing in Oakland, California. He began his tennis journey at the age of eight and has since dedicated his life to the sport. After working as a tennis coach and hitting partner in New York City for eight years, Christoph decided to share his knowledge and experience with tennis players around the world by creating the My Tennis Expert blog. His goal is to make tennis education accessible to everyone and help players select the best equipment for their game, from racquets and strings to shoes and overgrips. Christoph's extensive research and expertise in tennis technology make him a valuable resource for players of all levels.
