Alexander Bublik storms to glory in the Hangzhou Open, acquires his fourth title of 2025

Alexander Bublik continued a positive 2025 by collecting his fourth title of the year in the Hangzhou Open, defeating French qualifier Valentin Royer 7-6(4), 7-6(4).

The Kazakhstani dropped just one set on his way to the title. This was his first of the tournament against Aleksandar Vukic, before winning the next two sets 6-4, 6-4 to advance. He was flawless against Dalibor Svrcina and Yibing Wu to reach a third consecutive ATP 250 final, and a fourth final in 2025.

He would face off against Royer, who notably defeated Andrey Rublev on his way to the final. The Frenchman also defeated Aleksandar Kovacevic, Learner Tien, and fellow Frenchman Corentin Moutet to make it to his first ATP final.

The first set was very routine, with there no breaks or serve, or even any break points on offer for either players, as it went the full distance. Bublik won five of the last six points in the tiebreak to clinch the first set.

Early in the second set, both players found themselves 40-15 up on their opponent's serve, but failed to take the two break points on offer. Similar to the prioir set, there was a severe lack of break points throughout the set, culminaitng in another inevitable tiebreak. Bublik once again showed his class, coming out on top in the same scoreline to take his eighth ATP title, and fourth this year, only Carlos Alcaraz (7) boasts more.

After the match, Bublik said: “Honestly I always say that wins don’t make me go through the roof and losses don’t put me to the ground. I try to stay stable. I enjoy what I do. I’m happy that I’m able to travel, play tournaments and stay healthy, and the wins are coming… That’s beautiful.

On his opponent, he said: “He played unbelievable, and I wasn’t expecting that. He was near this level during the tournament, and he exceeded it. He was playing well and I really had to serve and do my best in order to win. I served and hit some amazing shots throughout the match and I won by only a few points.”

It has been clear as day that Bublik is an incredibly talented tennis player. While he has showed his skills on the court, it has not been overly consistent, with the 28-year-old presenting his best tennis on a sporadic basis. With a 31-17 record in 2025, he is close to reaching his highest tally of wins, which he amassed in 2021 (35).

Before 2025, Bublik made 11 finals between 2019-2024, winning four of them. He has doubled his career tally of titles this year, finally finding his best tennis on a more consistent basis. He made headlines at Roland Garros, reaching the quarter-finals after beating the likes of Jack Draper and Alex de Minaur before losing to the eventual runner-up and former number one in the world Jannik Sinner.

He followed that with an incredible run to his second Halle Open triumph, defeating Sinner, Karen Khachanov, and Daniil Medvedev in an eye-catching victory. Unfortunately, he could not continue that form into Wimbledon, losing in the first round in five sets to Jaume Munar.

He quickly got over this, with a title at the Swiss Open. Back on clay, he reached the final without dropping a set, before dumping out Juan Manual Cerundolo to claim the title. A week later, he had added another titie on clay, this time in Austria at the Austrian Open. He entered the event as the number-one ranked player and played like it, commandingly disposing of everyone in his way.

These titles have helped him shoot up the rankings to world number 19, and up three places to 12th in the ATP Race to Turin. He sits around 800 points behind de Minaur in the final provisional qualifying spot, with him next competing in the 500 event in Beijing.