The sun came out in Paris and the gloom descended for Alex de Minaur as his French Open bid was poleaxed by a superlative comeback from the mad, marvellous maverick Alexander Bublik.
So used to playing in damp and dreary conditions at Roland Garros, Australia’s great hope looked energised by the lovely Roland Garros weather on Thursday as he swept into a two-set lead, looking just too fast, too focused and too professional for his eccentric Kazakh opponent.
But it only kicked the world No 62 Bublik into a no-holds-barred, nothing-to-lose boldness as he then stunned the world No 9 with a barrage of brilliant shotmaking to storm back to a 2-6 2-6 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory.
De Minaur had been primed to expect the unexpected from the 27-year-old Bublik but he couldn’t have expected the transformation from the player who looked so lost for answers in the opening two sets to the one who then quite dominated for the final three.
It was a crushing blow for the 26-year-old Sydneysider, who had been enjoying his best clay-court season and had looked in the mood to at least try to emulate his breakthrough quarter-final appearance last year.
