Carlos Taberner vs Alexander Bublik Prediction & Betting Tips - Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

Prediction published on 23/09/2021, 11:21  by Steve Ashfield | Modified on 23/09/2021 at 15:18 in Tennis Predictions

Alexander Bublik is the second seed for the Astana Open. He takes on unseeded Carlos Taberner for a place in the semi-finals against either Laslo Dere (seeded seventh) or Kwon-Soon-woo. Bublik began this week ranked 34th in the world and that's a career high for the 24-year-old. This is his first last eight appearance since the Hall of Fame grass court tournament in July where he made it to the semi-finals. His best performance this year came in Singapore, where he lost to Alexei Popyrin in the final. This week has seen Bublik beat Miomir Kecmanovic in his only match but he needed to come from a set down to win that match.

Carlos Taberner is also 24 years old but was the world number 117 at the start of this tournament. That's 26 places higher than at the start of the year and he's up to 115 in the live rankings. Taberner has had success this year on the Challenger Tour, winning tournaments in Antalya and Aix en Provence. On the main ATP Tour, he got to the last 16 of a clay court tournament in Hamburg but the Spaniard is yet to get past the first round of any Grand Slam. He's been in form this week with wins over Ricardas Berankis and a come-from-behind win over Egor Gerasimov. This is a lot tougher though and the tip is to back Bublik to reach the semi-final.