By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON (Reuters) -Wimbledon dark horse Alexander Bublik’s bubble was burst in the opening round of the Grand Slam when the Kazakh was dragged into a battle by Spaniard Jaume Munar and beaten 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2 on a piercingly hot Tuesday.
Bublik, fresh from capturing his second Halle title last month, cut a frustrated figure towards the end of a lacklustre opening set against Munar on Court 14 where he surrendered his serve two times and barely dipped into his bag of tricks.
Having swapped his headband for a cap to shield himself from the heat, Bublik appeared a player transformed in the next set as he quickly found his range and erased the deficit after forcing Munar into a backhand error on set point.
The big crowds braving conditions on the outside court to catch the Kazakh trickster had to settle for a more workmanlike display early in the third set as Bublik fought back from 1-3 down before offering glimpses of his drop-shot brilliance.
With his tail up after securing the third set, 28th seed Bublik raced ahead in the fourth and was serving for the match at 5-4 before Munar clawed back to make it two sets apiece via the tiebreak.
Munar capitalised from there as the world number 55 took control of the match with an early break in the decider and sent his opponent tumbling out with minimum fuss.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar, editing by Ed Osmond)
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