Ironman Bublik Marches Into Newport Final

Seventh seed Alexander Bublik hasn’t had it easy at the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, but he’s into his first ATP Tour final after his 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-4 victory on Saturday over Spaniard Marcel Granollers.

The 22-year-old Kazakh required three sets for all four of his matches so far this week. He improved to 9-1 in deciding sets at tour-level with his latest win, which took two hours and 10 minutes to complete.

Bublik has primarily competed on the ATP Challenger Tour and picked up four Challenger titles in the past year. He’s guaranteed to reach a career-high ATP Ranking when the newest standings are released on Monday and crack the Top 75 for the first time.

Next up for Bublik will be top-seeded American John Isner or fourth-seeded Frenchman Ugo Humbert.