Opportunity awaits the rest of the draw in Gstaad as top seeds Alexander Bublik and Casper Ruud bow out within hours of each other.
It took two days, but Quentin Halys sent the top seed and defending champion packing on Friday afternoon 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(5). The match between Halys and Alexander Bublik was a holdover from Thursday due to a thunderstorm that rolled through the area on Thursday evening. In traditional Bublik style, the world No. 11 broke out an underarm serve prior to play being suspended.
It was a clean match by both players with far more winners than unforced errors and a slim margin of dominance that only just went Halys’s direction. Bublik had a chance to go up a break at 2-1 in the third but failed to convert. The Kazakh got in a hole in the deciding set tiebreaker and continued to fight, but Halys was ultimately too tough.
The drama of the day was reserved for Casper Ruud and Juan Manuel Cerundolo. There were not broken racquets or tantrums, but there was a point at 5-5 in the second set that featured a string of moonballs from Ruud. He had three break-point chances in that game along that would have positioned him to serve for the match. The moonball tactics ultimately backfired, and Cerundolo held.
From there it was moonball tactics from both players for the rest of the match. The crowd seemed confused by the lack of heavy groundstrokes and even more confused at Ruud’s collapse.
Halys will play his quarterfinal this afternoon against Alexander Shevchenko, while Cerundolo will face Raphael Collignon in Saturday’s semifinals.
moonball city