Defending champion Jannik Sinner lost his second-round match on grass at Halle on Thursday to Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik, the Italian’s first defeat since his French Open final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz earlier this month. 

The World No. 1 fell 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to the 45th-ranked Bublik for the 23-year-old’s first defeat to a player ranked outside the top 20 since the summer of 2023. 

Sinner had easily dispatched Bublik in the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, dropping only six games. However, on Thursday, ten days before Wimbledon, Bublik claimed his second victory in six ties against Sinner.