Bublik Ends Sinner's Incredible Streak Dating Back to 2023

This Thursday evening, Alexander Bublik pulled off one of the standout performances of the 2025 season. Facing Jannik Sinner, the world No. 1 for over a year straight, the Kazakh—after dropping the first set—turned the match around and overpowered the Italian for the second time in his career, both times in Halle (following Sinner’s retirement against the same opponent in the same tournament two years ago).

Boosted by a stellar serving performance (15 aces), Bublik—ranked 45th at the start of the tournament and a Halle champion in 2023—managed to defeat Sinner (3-6, 6-3, 6-4), who had only lost to Carlos Alcaraz since August of last year.

Bublik also became the first player outside of Alcaraz to beat Sinner since Rublev in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Canadian Open, simultaneously ending an astonishing two-year streak by the 23-year-old.

Indeed, after 66 consecutive wins against players ranked outside the top 20 (the fourth-longest such streak since the early 1990s), Sinner finally fell to Bublik, ranked 45th, as reported by the X (formerly Twitter) account *Jeu, Set et Maths*.

The last time Sinner had suffered a similar upset on the ATP Tour was in the second round of the 2023 Cincinnati Masters 1000. Back then, the three-time Grand Slam champion was outplayed by Dusan Lajovic, then ranked 66th and coming through qualifying (6-4, 7-6).