Tsitsipas powers into Almaty semifinals: Bublik edges Khachanov

Tsitsipas clinical on indoor hard

Stefanos Tsitsipas maintained his march toward the Almaty Open title on Friday, 23 October, defeating Australia’s James Duckworth 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. The Greek seventh seed displayed supreme control on serve, firing eight aces and losing only nine points on his first delivery across one hour and 22 minutes. Tsitsipas converted decisive break points in the fourth game of the opening set and the fifth game of the second set to book his semifinal ticket without facing a break point of his own.

The victory follows Tsitsipas’s emotional second-round win over retiring veteran Mikhail Kukushkin on Thursday. Tsitsipas now enters his fourth ATP semifinal of 2026, finding rhythm and confidence on the rapid indoor hard courts at Almaty Arena.

Bublik thriller sets up blockbuster semifinal

The home crowd was treated to a classic quarterfinal as third-seeded Kazakh Alexander Bublik produced an extraordinary comeback against fifth seed Karen Khachanov. After dropping the opening set, Bublik relied on his devastating serve to claim consecutive tiebreaks, winning 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) in two hours and 38 minutes. Bublik struck 19 aces and saved two break points in the final set to set up a showdown with Tsitsipas. On the other side of the draw, top seed Daniil Medvedev defeated Terence Atmane 6-4, 6-4, while Nikoloz Basilashvili halted Adrian Mannarino’s run with a 6-3, 6-1 victory.