Alexander Bublik calls Jannik Sinner an 'AI' after being thrashed at US Open

Jannik Sinner, World No. 1, swept into the US Open quarter-finals with a dominant 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 win over Alexander Bublik, the Kazakh who had upset expectations by taking a late-night route to the match.The match lasted just 1 hour and 21 minutes, the second-fastest contest in the men’s singles so far this year. Moments after the defeat, Bublik, seeded 23rd, left a comment reading “AI” on the US Open’s Instagram post announcing Sinner’s win.Bublik is one of only two players to defeat Sinner this season, but the 24-year-old Italian made sure there would be no upset this time in New York.“We’ve had tough battles this year, but we know each other’s games really well,” Sinner said.

He has already claimed the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles this year. “He had a tough match in the third round, five sets, finishing late, and he didn’t serve as well as usual. Overall I’m very happy.”With this win, Sinner extended his hard-court Grand Slam winning streak to 25 matches, converting eight of 17 break opportunities. Before the match, Bublik had won all 55 of his service games in the tournament, underlining the challenge he faced.

He emphasised holding serve early, but after finishing his previous match around 1:15 a.m. local time, he appeared unsettled.Sinner’s response began with a break in the first game, aided by sloppy groundstrokes and a double fault on break point. From there, Sinner’s athleticism neutralised Bublik’s dropshots and creative serves, while his relentless baseline power kept the pressure high.

Bublik fought to stay in it, even managing a smile and a light-hearted exchange with Sinner at the net after defeat, saying, “You’re so good, this is insane.

I’m not bad but what the ....”One bright moment for Bublik came as he avoided the fastest loss of the tournament, saving three break points to hold for 4-1 in the final set and lengthen the proceedings slightly past 1 hour 20 minutes—the mark set when Czech 21st seed Tomas Machac defeated Italy’s Luca Nardi in the first round.Sinner will continue his pursuit of another title run as he faces 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti in the all-Italian quarter-final.