Surprise Rotterdam Tennis Results: Zverev Goes Down to Bublik, Medvedev Loses to Lajovic

By Ricky Dimon

Two of the top three seeds–and each of the top two in the top half of the draw–crashed out of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Wednesday.

An afternoon of upsets began with Alexander Zverev’s loss to Alexander Bublik. Zverev, who won back-to-back indoor titles last fall in Cologne, was bounced out by Bublik via a 7-5, 6-3 decision. The 43rd-ranked Kazakh was coming off a runner-up performance in Singapore and remained in fine form by prevailing in one hour and 17 minutes. Zverev finished with only one ace and was broken four times.

“Beating Sascha is great,” Bublik assured. “There were ups and downs for both of us throughout the match, I got a bit lucky and I was perhaps a little more consistent. I’m just enjoying playing matches right now.”

No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev also exited in straight sets, losing 7-6(4), 6-4 to Dusan Lajovic after one hour and 35 minutes of play. Medvedev imploded mentally following a close first set en route to his second loss in three matches against Lajovic. At one point the fourth-ranked player in the world hit a no-look backhand and didn’t bother looking to see if Lajovic returned it (luckily for Medvedev, his opponent missed an easy reply). The Russian also incurred a point penalty in the final game of the match after destroying a racket.

“I think I was very focused the whole match and not influenced by his good serves and shots,” Lajovic explained. “I knew if I stayed in the match, I’d get my opportunities and change the rhythm.”

The Serb will go up against Borna Coric on Thursday, while Bublik continues his campaign against Tommy Paul.

Medvedev would have become No. 2 in the world if he had reached the Rotterdam final. Instead, the 25-year-old will remain in the third spot behind Rafael Nadal.

Ricky contributes to10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.