Bublik into Paris Masters 1000 semifinal after beating De Minaur

Alexander Bublik reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semifinal on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters, rallying past sixth seed Alex de Minaur 6-7, 6-4, 7-5 at Paris La Défense Arena to cap a breakthrough two days that began with a win over fourth seed Taylor Fritz. The 28-year-old Kazakh won a dramatic quarterfinal after recovering from a set down and will meet ninth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime in Saturday's semifinal.

Bublik lost a tightly contested first set to de Minaur in a tiebreak, then used a mixture of heavy serving, precise drop shots and aggressive groundstrokes to take control. He struck 16 aces and recovered from a mid-match deficit to close out the match in two hours and 22 minutes, capitalizing on a series of double faults from de Minaur late in the final set. De Minaur committed nine double faults and fought off several break points before Bublik sealed the victory with a forehand winner.

The Paris run followed Bublik's straight-sets victory over Taylor Fritz on Thursday, when he defeated the American 7-6(5), 6-2. Fritz had multiple opportunities to take the first set, including four set points on Bublik's serve, but Bublik withstood the pressure, using timely drop...