Unprecedented scenes at US Open as Alexander Bublik hits four double faults in a row against Dominic Thiem in 1R clash

Dominic Thiem advanced to the second round of the 2023 US Open on Monday (28 August), beating 25th-seeded Alexander Bublik, who appeared to lose focus mid-way through the match as he hit four double faults in a row at one point during the second set.

With this win, Thiem recorded his first victory at a Major tournament since the 2021 Australian Open. The Austrian looked in sublime form throughout the match, as he broke serve six times during his 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win over the Kazakh. While Thiem's performance came as a shock to many, Bublik's nonchalant performance on his serve at 1-1 in the second set came off as even more bizarre.

Alexander Bublik, who has a rather lax playing style, completely checked out mentally during the second set as he committed four double faults after having led 30-0. The Kazakh never recovered from those jitters, losing three of his next seven service games to succumb to a straight-sets loss in just under two hours.

It should also be noted that Bublik committed a whopping 17 double faults during the game according to the match. For academic purposes, Gael Monfils holds the men's record for most double faults during a competitive match at 23 double faults against Taiwan's Yen-hsun Lu at the 2013 Australian Open.

Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem, meanwhile, will face the promising American Ben Shelton in the second round of the 2023 US Open.

Alexander Bublik has plenty of company when it comes to gifting service games due to double faults

Alexander Bublik has plenty of company as far as hitting four double faults to surrender service games is concerned

Alexander Bublik was not the first player to hit four double faults to surrender a game. Many ATP players in the past have achieved this bizarre feat, though none of them ever hit four consecutive double faults on their service game during a Major tournament.

Grigor Dimitrov, formerly ranked at No 3 in the world, put up a terrible display on his serve once against Novak Djokovic in the first set of their 2013 Indian Wells Masters encounter. He hit four double faults to surrender the first set 6-3, before eventually succumbing to a straight-sets defeat.

Benoit Paire did match Bublik's feat at the 2018 ATP Cup, though, as he hit four consecutive double faults, handing Fabio Fognini his first return game of the match at 1-1 in the first set. The match was won by the Italian 6-1, 7-6(2).

Four consecutive double faults are rare in tennis and turn out to be even more rare when they happen in a Grand Slam tournament.