Marseille Open: Hurkacz vs Bublik Tennis Prediction & Pick

TennisSection previews the 2023 Marseille Open as Hubert Hurkacz takes on Alexander Bublik in the semifinal on Saturday, February 25, 2023.

Will Hubert Hurkacz reach his first final of the season at the Marseille Open? Or will Alexander Bublik’s recent renaissance prevent the Pole from reaching Sunday’s final?

Hubert Hurkacz needed to toughen up because his Marseille Open campaign has not been the most straightforward. He has battled to reach the semifinals, after digging out a pair of three-set wins over Leandro Riedi and Mikael Ymer respectively. Against the Swede, he saved a match point at 5-6 in the third-set tiebreak in a match that lasted nearly three hours. Will he overcome Alexander Bublik for the second time this season to reach the final?

It was a similar scenario for Alexander Bublik who fought back from the brink of defeat to beat Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinal of the Marseille Open. Bublik had endured a turbulent start to the year, failing to win a single match in six tournaments. And two weeks ago all hell broke loose when he let out his frustration by breaking three rackets. The Kazakh has managed to steer his campaign in the right direction this week, winning three matches on the spin and saving two match points to beat Dimitrov in a third-set tiebreak.

Hubert Hurkacz leads Alexander Bublik 4-1 in their head-to-head. These two players played each other in the opening week of the season at the United Cup, with Hurkacz winning in three tight sets. The Bublik serve has been holding up quite nicely at the Marseille Open and he’s faced a slightly more challenging route to reach the last four. Hurkacz’s season has really been up and down and we are not very confident he might have enough attacking intent to win on Saturday. We recommend backing the games market here, but the price on the Kazakh is worth taking in this one.