Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan's top player and world No. 11, began his first-round match at the ATP-250 Swiss Open Gstaad the previous day against Frenchman Quentin Halys (world No. 90) and finished it today with a disappointing defeat: 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-7 (5-7). The match was suspended due to heavy rain that hit the high-altitude Swiss resort, reports infohub.kz.
On the previous day, umpires stopped the match in the third set with the score 6-5, 15-0 in favor of the Kazakh, the defending champion. After play resumed, Halys won a game and forced a tiebreak in the decisive set. The 13th game did not go well for Bublik: the Frenchman raced to a 4-0 lead, Bublik cut the deficit to 4-5, but Halys closed out the tiebreak 7-5.
Thus, Bublik failed to defend his title, and Halys will face fellow Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko in the quarterfinals.
The match between Alexander Shevchenko (world No. 100) and Dominic Stricker (world No. 360) was also interrupted by rain yesterday. At the stoppage, the Swiss player, who received a wildcard from tournament organizers, led 4-3 with a break. However, the Kazakh tennis player turned the match around and, despite fierce support from the crowd for Stricker, won in straight sets: 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.
The Swiss Open Gstaad, the Swiss Open tennis championship, has been held since 1915. Until 1967 it moved between different cities, but in 1968 it found a permanent home in Gstaad, a popular ski resort in the Swiss Alps. It is considered the highest-altitude ATP tournament in Europe (1,050 meters above sea level).
Since 2009, the tournament has been an ATP 250 event. The total prize money is €612,500.
Over the years, winners of the Swiss Open Gstaad include Roger Federer of Switzerland, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, Stefan Edberg of Sweden, Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, and other stars.