Alexander Bublik battles to 200th win of career, reaches semifinals in Rotterdam

World No. 10 Alexander Bublik kept piling on the wins in Rotterdam on Friday, battling into the semifinals of the ATP 500 event with a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) victory over Jaume Munar.

The win was a special one, too, as it was the 200th tour-level win of his career, making him the first man representing Kazakhstan in the Open Era to reach that milestone.

Those wins have been adding up fast in recent months, too—he’s 41-11 since the start of Roland Garros last year, where he reached the first Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career.

And in a stretch that began a few weeks later during the grass-court season, he’s now into his seventh semifinal in the last eight months. That includes winning five titles in Halle, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel, Hangzhou and Hong Kong, his first Masters 1000 semifinal in Paris and now another semifinal in Rotterdam.

The 28-year-old Bublik is also just the 14th man born in 1997 or later from anywhere to record 200 career tour-level wins.

MOST CAREER WINS, MEN BORN IN 1997 OR LATER (tour-level):

• 526: Alexander Zverev [born in 1997]
• 374: Stefanos Tsitsipas [born in 1998]
• 373: Andrey Rublev [born in 1997]
• 344: Taylor Fritz [born in 1997]
• 326: Jannik Sinner [born in 2001]
• 314: Alex de Minaur [born in 1999]
• 301: Casper Ruud [born in 1998]
• 287: Carlos Alcaraz [born in 2003]
• 273: Felix Auger-Aliassime [born in 2000]
• 240: Frances Tiafoe [born in 1998]
• 236: Denis Shapovalov [born in 1999] (playing today)
• 231: Hubert Hurkacz [born in 1997]
• 212: Tommy Paul [born in 1997]
• 200: Alexander Bublik [born in 1997]

After coming so close to closing Munar out in straight sets on Friday night, Bublik went to a third set—his third three-setter in three matches this week—and found himself down an early break at 2-1. But he broke right back, stayed on serve through the final set tie-break, opened up a 4-1 lead and never looked back to finally clinch victory after two hours and 42 minutes.

"I'm really lucky at the end that I served unbelievably," Bublik said afterwards. "I only served first serves in the tie-break, so I guess that was the key in the third set. But I'm really tired—I just need to find a way to recover for tomorrow's match."

Awaiting the world No. 10 in the semifinals on Saturday will be the world No. 6, Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 7-6 (2), 6-2 winner earlier in the day against home favorite Tallon Griekspoor.

Auger-Aliassime leads their head-to-head, 4-2, including a 2-0 record in 2025 with a 7-6 (7), 6-7 (4), 6-3 win in the first round of Dubai and a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory in the semifinals in Paris.