(June 2, 2025) Calling it the best moment of this life, No. 62 Alexander Bulik became the first man from Kazakhstan to reach the quarterfinals at a major tournament when he stunned No. 5 Jack Draper at the French Open in Paris on Monday.
“Sometimes in life there’s only one chance, and I had a feeling that that was mine, and I couldn’t let it slip,” Bublik said in an on-court interview, standing ovation from the Court Suzanne-Lenglen crowd. “Standing here, it’s the best moment of my life, period.”
A moment later, the winner said jokingly: “I’m standing here like I won the thing.”
Draper called himself “incredibly disappointed with the result.”
“Didn’t play a bad match. I thought he played incredibly well,” Draper said about Bublik. “He didn’t allow me to play my tennis, I don’t think.”
In other men’s action, Novak Djokovic gained his 100th career French Open match win over Cam Norrie 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and set up a quarterfinal against No. 3 Alexander Zverev, last year’s runner-up.
Zverev was leading 6-4, 3-0 when Tallon Griekspoor retired from the match with an abdominal strain.
No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who was a dominant winner 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 over No. 17 Andrey Rublev, has now won 18 consecutive major tournament matches. He’ll play Bublik next.
