Does Rublev revenge himself on Bublik?

Andrey Rublev is more or less already contesting his second Russian clash at Wimbledon with the upcoming encounter against Alexander Bublik. Although his opponent has been listed as a Kazakh since 2017, he was born in Russia and still played under that nationality at the beginning of his career.

In the first Russian encounter, Rublev had his compatriot Aslan Karatsev in front of his chest in the 2nd round and the task was solved by the world number 7 only almost standing up to him with a 3:1.

The next match against the Belgian oldie David Goffin did not go smoothly either, as the match again only went four sets in favour of the professional from Moscow. Which Andrey Rublev vs. Alexander Bublik does the betting pool have in store now?

An extremely close exchange of blows is to be expected. Rublev is almost 20 places higher in the world rankings than his opponent, but Bublik won the last encounter at the end of June in the final of the grass court tournament in Halle. On top of that, the 26-year-old has been consistent in London so far and can be considered the slightly better player on this surface overall.

The forecast for the round of 16 match at Wimbledon between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Bublik therefore includes more than 40.5 games.

Andrey Rublev – Statistics & current form

Last year, the Russian players were all still suspended at Wimbledon. In the current edition of the grass court tournament, they are allowed to compete again, although this decision only came about due to high pressure from the ATP.

Rublev also benefited from this decision and successfully used his eligibility by reaching the round of 16. He has only got this far once before in 2021, in his last appearance in the competition.

Rublev has never won on the green surface

However, he is not a proven grass court player. Looking at his 13 titles on the ATP Tour, you can see that he has not won any on grass. Moreover, he has only reached the final of an ATP grass-court tournament twice – in Halle this year and in 2021.

In Wimbledon, he again started with a clear 3:0 against the Australian Max Purcell, but in the following two matches against his compatriot Karatsev, he had to drop a set in each of his 3:1 victories. Especially the last win against David Goffin from Belgium was a hard piece of work, as he also had to play two tiebreaks.

Once again more than one tiebreak?

With this in mind and the stable condition of his upcoming opponent, the match between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Bublik also offers predictions and odds of more than one tiebreak again.

Alexander Bublik – Statistics & current form

Alexander Bublik can always reach the 3rd round in the past two years. Now he overcame this hurdle for the first time in his career thanks to his recent success against Maximilian Marterer. The German qualifier had no real chance in the Russian’s 3:0, bringing his previous flight of fancy to an abrupt end.

With his performances so far at the All England Club, Bublik confirmed his previously already very good form with the aforementioned tournament victory on grass in Halle. Only in the first round against the US-American Mackenzie McDonald did Bublik have a little trouble.

He had to go over four sets against the number 54 in the world rankings. On the other hand, the only set loss in the match only came in a tiebreak. After that, the Kazakh improved.

The second task against Jeffrey John Wolf, who also comes from the USA, was already done more confidently by the number 26 in the world rankings with a 3:0. Especially in the third set, Bublik acted dominantly as he saw off his opponent from Cincinnati with a 6:0 from the tournament at the All England Club.

Victory or just a narrow defeat for Bublik?

Given his robust condition, betting odds on a win by Andrey Rublev and Alexander Bublik, including a handicap of + 1.5 sets, are also worth considering.

Just how strong the Kazakh player is on his own service, among other things, can be easily seen from the fact that he has only recorded two breaks in the entire tournament. His current strengths also include great stability in his groundstrokes. Bublik recorded 39 direct points in the last game against Marterer.

On top of that, he was able to maintain his already convincing performance at the net. Almost 80 per cent of his attacks in this regard were successful again, which gave him a similarly high value as in the two previous rounds.

Andrey Rublev – Alexander Bublik Direct comparison / H2H balance

As mentioned at the beginning, Rublev and Bublik recently faced each other in the final of the Terra Wortmann Open in Halle. Here, the latter player from Gattschina recorded a 2:1 victory. It was the first duel on grass after the Russian duel had taken place on hard court several times before. On that occasion, Rublev still had a positive record of 3:1.

Andrey Rublev – Alexander Bublik tip

Alexander Bublik does not have a good record at the two previous Grand Slam tournaments in Melbourne and Paris in 2023. In each case, he had to bow out of the competitions in the first round. Now the Kazakh is in much better shape.

With the tailwind from his recent tournament victory in Halle, where he defeated his upcoming opponent in the final, he reached the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time in his career. For the clash between Andrey Rublev and Alexander Bublik, prediction and odds of more than 40.5 games appear promising.

In the duel, two players with similar playing strengths will face each other and a match lasting four or even five sets does not seem unlikely. The most recent encounter in the final in Halle was already hard-fought and went over three rounds in a “two winning sets” format.

The prediction is supported by the fact that Rublev had to play four sets in each of the last two rounds and played 44 games in the match against Karatsev and 43 against Goffin. Now the task will be anything but easy compared to these players, which is why the Rublev vs. Bublik prediction offers more than 40 games once again