Tallon Griekspoor upsets second seed Alexander Bublik in Dubai | ATP Tour

Dubai

Griekspoor gets their man! Dutchman upsets second seed Bublik in Dubai

Griekspoor get their first win in five meetings with the Kazakhstani, Felix and Medvedev winning

February 25, 2026

Tallon Griekspoor had to wait two years to get his fifth crack at Alexander Bublik. On Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the Dutchman finally managed to defeat his opponent.

Griekspoor upset second-seeded Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4) to seal his quarter-final spot at the tough ATP 500. The No. 25 player in the PIF ATP Rankings upset World No. Noted 10’s in the second game of the match and rode that set win on his way back to the opening game. In the second, Griekspoor escaped from 0/40 down to take the second game before winning four of the last five points at the break to seal victory.

Big time Tallon 😤@Griekii defeated Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4), snapped a four match losing streak against him, to advance to the last eight in Dubai!@DDFTennis | #DDFTTennis pic.twitter.com/VUlR1oVHG6

– ATP Tour (@atptour) February 25, 2026

The 82-minute quarter-final encounter came two years after Griekspoor suffered a heartbreaking two-set loss to Bublik in Dubai, his fourth defeat in as many tour-level meetings with the Kazakh. After his revenge win on Wednesday, the Dutchman improved to 1-4 in the Lexus ATP Head2Head series.

Waiting for Griekspoor in the UAE quarter-finals will be Jakub Mensik. The sixth-seeded Czech outlasted Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2 to improve to 13-3 on the season. The 20-year-old Mensik, who upset Jannik Sinner in Doha last week, is now 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Popyrin.

Four other seeded players booked their last eight spots on Wednesday: Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Jiri Lehecka. Medvedev started the day’s work by eliminating 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka in Dubai with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Third seed Medvedev, also from Dubai in 2023, will face Jenson Brooksby after the American upset seventh seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 6-4.

“I think [I’m moving in the right direction],” Medvedev said after notching his 11th win of the year. “Two great games [so far in Dubai]. Convincing in the score, which is sometimes very important. I have a lot of time mentally to prepare for the next round and I’m looking forward to it.”

Top seed Auger-Aliassime also enjoyed a straight-sets second-round victory. The Canadian player made a mistake against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard with a 6-4, 6-4 victory, while the World No. 8 will next face Lehecka. The eighth-ranked Czech lost to Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(6), 6-4.

Dubai 2022 winner Rublev was forced to go a little deeper than some of his rivals to earn a place in the quarter-finals. The fifth seed beat fellow former champion Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 to advance to face fourth seed Jack Draper or Arthur Rinderknech.

“I was just trying to do my job,” Rublev said after his two-hour, 23-minute victory. “I’m trying to play my tennis and continue doing the things I’ve been doing. When I got the chance to play aggressively, I tried to go to the net, focus on my serve, serve hard and put pressure on his return, which was not easy because he was working hard.”