Dubai
Griekspoor upsets Bublik, Rinderknech ousts Draper in Dubai
Auger-Aliassime and Medvedev advance
February 25, 2026
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2026
Tallon Griekspoor downs Alexander Bublik on Wednesday to reach the Dubai quarter-finals.
By Andy West
Tallon Griekspoor was forced to wait two years for a fifth crack at defeating Alexander Bublik. On Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the Dutchman finally snapped his losing streak against his rival.
Griekspoor upset the second-seeded Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4) to seal his quarter-final berth at the hard-court ATP 500. The No. 25 player in the PIF ATP Rankings broke the World No. 10’s renowned serve in the second game of the match and rode that success on return to the opening set. In the second, Griekspoor escaped 0/40 to hold serve in the second game before winning four of the final five points in the tie-break to seal his win.
Big time Tallon 😤@Griekii overcomes Bublik 6-3, 7-6(4), snapping a four-match losing streak against him, to advance to the last eight in Dubai!@DDFTennis | #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/VUlR1oVHG6
— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 25, 2026
The 82-minute quarter-final encounter took place two years after Griekspoor had heartbreakingly fallen in two tie-break sets to Bublik in Dubai, his fourth defeat in as many tour-level meetings with the Kazakhstani. After his revenge success on Wednesday, the Dutchman improved to 1-4 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Awaiting Griekspoor in the quarter-finals in the U.A.E. will be Jakub Mensik. The sixth-seeded Czech eased past Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2 to improve to 13-3 for the season. The 20-year-old Mensik, who upset Jannik Sinner in Doha last week, is now 3-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Popyrin.
Fourth seed Jack Draper was also eliminated. Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech battled past the Briton, who is still working his way back from injury, 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-4.
Rinderknech hit 20 aces and saved the two break points he faced against the lefty, according to Infosys ATP Stats. This was Draper’s first knockout tournament since last year’s US Open due to an arm injury.
Four seeded players booked their last-eight spots on Wednesday: Daniil Medvedev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and Jiri Lehecka. Medvedev kicked off the day’s action by ending 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka’s Dubai career with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph. The third-seeded Medvedev, himself a Dubai titlist in 2023, will face Jenson Brooksby next after the American upset seventh seed Karen Khachanov 7-6(6), 6-4.
“I think [I’m moving in the right direction],” said Medvedev after notching his 11th tour-level win of the year. “Two good matches [so far in Dubai]. Convincing in the score, which is sometimes more important. I have more time mentally to prepare for the next round and I’m looking forward to it.”
Top seed Auger-Aliassime also enjoyed a straight-sets second-round triumph. The Canadian blunted the big-serving Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard for a 6-4, 6-4 victory, and the World No. 8 will next take on Lehecka. The eighth-seeded Czech downed qualifier Pablo Carreno Busta 7-6(6), 6-4.
The 2022 Dubai winner Rublev was forced to dig a little deeper than some of his rivals for a quarter-final spot. The fifth seed overcame another former champion Ugo Humbert 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-3 to advance to face Arthur Rinderknech.
“I was just trying to do my job,” said Rublev after his two-hour, 23-minute victory. “Trying to play my tennis and keep doing the things I was doing. As soon as I had the chance to play aggressive, I tried to go to the net, to focus on my serve, to serve hard and put pressure on his return, which was not easy because he was serving super hard.”
