Defending champion Bublik tumbles out in the first round as Bellucci pounces in Halle
A year after lifting the trophy, the defending champion is gone: Mattia Bellucci (No 74) saved three set points before beating Alexander Bublik 7-6 (6), 6-1 in Halle, a fifth first-round exit in three months for the slumping Kazakh.
Alexander Bublik, Halle 2026 | © Imago / PsNewz
Italian Mattia Bellucci produced the biggest result of his grass-court season on Tuesday, knocking out defending champion Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, the seventh seed, 7-6 (6), 6-1 to reach the last 16 of the Terra Wortmann Open.
The match turned on a tight and spectacular opening set. Bublik led the tie-break 6-3 and held three set points, but Bellucci saved each one, reeled off the points he needed to steal the set, and once it was gone the contest swung sharply: the world No 74 surged through the second for the loss of a single game to complete a straight-sets win and claim another top-20 scalp.
The defeat deepened a marked decline for Bublik, a year on from his title run on this grass. Once a top-10 player who reached the Roland-Garros quarter-finals and lifted the Halle trophy in 2025, he has now gone out in the first round of both events this year.
His form has fallen away since his quarter-final in Monte Carlo, a stretch that has brought a 5-7 record and, with a first-round loss at Roland-Garros among them, a fifth opening-round exit in three months. He looked a long way from the player of last season, and the result leaves him set to drop out of the top 10.
Bellucci, ranked No 74, will next face Belgian Raphael Collignon for a place in the quarter-finals.
