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Wildcard Aleksandar Vukic admitted he was very happy after pulling off an upset win over Alexander Bublik on the opening day of Adelaide 2. Vukic, ranked at No. 160 in the world, stunned No. 6 seed Bublik 7-6 (5) 6-2 in his Adelaide opener to clinch his first top-50 win.
It was the first meeting between the two and one of the biggest wins of Vukic's career. “Yeah, it was a tricky match, he’s a very tricky opponent,” Vukic said, per The First Serve. “He can throw a 120-kilometre-per-hour serve or 240, or underarm serve for that matter.
“I luckily got that first set, which was very tight and could have gone either way. “But, yeah very happy to get the first win”.
Vukic survived a tight first set
Vukic pressured Bublik early on but the Kazakh saved two break points in the second game and one more in the eighth game.
As no breaks were seen, the first set went into a tie-break. In the tie-break, Vukic took a comfortable 6-0 lead but Bublik refused to quit and five consecutive set points. Luckily for Vukic, he converted his sixth set point to win a tight opener and avoid an absolute disaster.
After winning a tight first set, Vukic broke Bublik in the opening game of the second set. Vukic then earned his second break of the match in the fifth game, before serving out for the match in the seventh game. A few days ago, Vukic was awarded a wildcard into the Australian Open.
In late December, Vukic said he was hoping he would get an Australian Open wildcard. “From what I’ve heard, they’re waiting until after the first week (of tournaments),” Vukic told News Corp in late December.
“The more exposure you get to these top events and top guys (the better). I have as much chance as anyone who can get a wildcard to do well. “I’m obviously there for the experience, but I’m also trying to make the most of it."