Botic van de Zandschulp failed to reach the final of the ATP tournament in Kitzbühel on Friday. The player from Veenendaal lost in two sets to Alexander Bublik: 3-6 and 4-6.
Van de Zandschulp’s match started several hours later than planned due to heavy rainfall. On the Austrian gravel, the current number 103 in the world immediately lost the first set.
In the second set, Van de Zandschulp showed improvement. He broke Bublik, took a 4-1 lead, and even had chances for 5-1. But the Dutchman still gave the game, the set, and thus the match out of his hands.
Bublik, the number thirty in the world, won five games in a row and knocked Van de Zandschulp out of the tournament. The Kazakh will face the Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in the final.
Van de Zandschulp showed a good recovery in Kitzbühel after some difficult months. For the first time in over two years, he reached the quarter-finals of an ATP tournament again.
As a result, the player from Gelderland will return to the top hundred next week. Due to his poor results in recent months, he had recently fallen out of it. Virtually, Van de Zandschulp is the number 86 in the world.