WIMBLEDON, England — Grigor Dimitrov said he had come to Wimbledon, where he reached the semifinals in 2014, “with great hopes just to play some more matches just to get myself a little bit of a rhythm.”
Dimitrov’s opponent, Alexander Bublik, had other plans. “You don’t get much of a rhythm with him,” Dimitrov lamented.
The 38th-ranked Bublik defeated the 18th-seeded Dimitrov, 6-4, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4), in a second-round match on Court 12 with his signature game of extremes, pounding 34 aces while also keeping Dimitrov off-balance with occasional off-speed shots. Coming into Wimbledon, Bublik led the tour with 457 aces, well ahead of Reilly Opelka’s 331.