25th seed Alexander Bublik will take on former champion Dominic Thiem in the first round of the 2023 US Open. The match will be played on Monday, August 28, 2023.
Flamboyant Kazakh Alexander Bublik could have a complicated opening match at this year’s US Open having drawn a former champion Dominic Thiem who is unseeded at the 2023 edition. Bublik has had a tremendous year which feels untrue to say given that he has a negative win-loss record, but he’s been effective in the moments. He won the biggest ATP title of his career in Halle where he scored wins over Borna Coric, Alexander Zverev, and Andrey Rublev en route to the trophy. Just a few weeks later, he reached the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time and despite coming back from two sets to love down, he fell just short of his maiden quarterfinal against Rublev. Since that match, Bublik has endured a barren spell, losing in Washington and Toronto at the first hurdle, and arrives at the US Open without a win on hard courts since mid-March.
Dominic Thiem, meanwhile, will attempt to win his first Grand Slam match since the 2021 Australian Open when he defeated Nick Kyrgios in five sets. The Austrian has been extremely unfortunate, succumbing to a career-defining wrist injury that year, and hasn’t been the same player since. He’s been chipping away at his ranking in clay-court tournaments often, in order to return to the upper echelons of the sport. At the start of August, Thiem reached his first ATP final in three years but lost out to Sebastian Baez in straight sets in his home country.
Alexander Bublik and Dominic Thiem have previously clashed at a Grand Slam back in 2019 where the Austrian won in four sets at Roland Garros. That was Thiem at the top of his game. But we have seen patches of brilliance this season, particularly his ability to take on his heavy forehand and swing with confidence, so he could give Bublik some work to do. The Kazakh is a maverick and while he’s had a better season, his momentum has dissipated coming to the US Open. Thiem is at evens to win here and this match has an upset written all over it.