"Wawrinka-Like Career?" Maylin Hails Bublik's Sensational Australian Open Start

Bublik's Dominant Run Impresses Maylin, Sparking Grand Slam Dreams for Kazakh Star

© MAY JAMES / AFP

Jules Hypolite

le 21/01/2026 à 21h30

2 min to read

Bublik Alexander Etcheverry Tomas

Qualified for the third round of the Australian Open, Alexander Bublik has a golden opportunity to reach the second week of the tournament for the first time in his career. The Kazakh faces Argentine Tomás Etcheverry in a match he enters as the clear favorite.

“A career like Wawrinka, Cilic, or Del Potro?”

Now entrenched in the top 10 and winner of the Hong Kong title to launch his season, Bublik seems to have definitively turned a corner.

On the Sans Filet show, journalist Benoît Maylin questioned whether the Kazakh could aim even higher, potentially coveting one or more Grand Slam titles.

“Can Bublik have a career like Wawrinka? Or like Marin Cilic, a Del Potro? Is he the kind of player who can win a Grand Slam when everyone’s talking about Sinner and Alcaraz? And given the commitment he’s shown lately...

“I think it hit him at the Turin Challenger, where he beat Etcheverry, by the way. Then came his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros.

“His season start impresses me”

But being Bublik, he can’t settle for that. This guy has everything to at least reach the semifinals. [...] His start to the season impresses me. He hasn’t lost a match, he won Hong Kong, and he hasn’t dropped a set since the Australian Open began.

Against Fucsovics, he trailed 5-2 in the third set—you think he’ll ease up. But between every shot, you saw those little adjustment steps, on his tiptoes, ready to launch, ready to pounce.

That means he’s constantly focused on his game, on his tennis. That’s the difference.”