Almaty, 23 October. Kazakhstan's number one Alexander Bublik (ranked 19th in the world) reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 250 Almaty Open without playing: his second-round opponent, Hungary's Fabian Marozsan (ranked 64th), withdrew because of health problems a few minutes before the match.
On 23 October Bublik plays Russia's Karen Khachanov, not before 19:30.
As third seed Bublik received a bye into the second round, so he has not played a singles match before the quarterfinals. In doubles he and Zangar Nurlanuly lost in the first round to Israel's Daniel Cukierman and Brazil's Fernando Romboli 6-3, 6-7, 6-10. Marozsan had beaten Kazakhstan's Timofey Skatov in the first round.
Khachanov (25th, fifth seed) made it to the quarterfinals the hard way, beating Czech Tomas Machac 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7). Their head-to-head with Bublik is level at 1-1. Top seed and defending champion Daniil Medvedev beat Japan's Sho Shimabukuro 6-2, 6-1 and meets France's Terence Atmane in the quarterfinals.
What it means: The Kazakh player has reached the quarterfinals of his home tournament without playing a match; his first real opponent is Khachanov, with whom his head-to-head is level.
Who benefits: Bublik saves energy before the quarterfinal; the organisers get Kazakhstan's leading player in the decisive stage of the home tournament.
Background: The Almaty Open has been held in Almaty since 2024; before that it was called the Astana Open and took place in the capital. Medvedev won it in 2025.
List of sources used: NUR.KZ, Sportarena.kz, Kursiv, Lenta.ru, Sport-Express, Wikipedia
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
