Queenslander Jason Kubler's run through to his first ATP tour semi-final is over after he was beaten at the Hall of Fame Open by Alexander Bublik.
Jason Kubler's fairytale run through to his first ATP semi-final has been ended unceremoniously at the Hall of Fame Open grass-court event in the US.
The Queenslander, coming off a career-best run to Wimbledon's fourth round, had continued where he'd left off in England by knocking out two fellow Australians and Canada's No.1 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime en route to the last-four in Newport, Rhode Island.
Yet Alexander Bublik, the unpredictable but brilliant Kazakh, ensured the 29-year-old was brought firmly down to earth after a dazzling couple of months, beating Kubler 6-3 6-2 in Saturday's second semi.
In the other big-hitting last-four match, Maxime Cressy had beaten US compatriot and four-time Newport champ John Isner 6-2 4-6 6-3, leaving Kubler dreaming of the prospect of his first final against a home player on Sunday.
But Bublik crushed the Brisbane man mercilessly, the world No.42 racing into a 3-0 lead in the opening set and rarely looking threatened on his dominant serve as he wrapped up a three-break, straight-sets victory in just one hour 10 minutes.
Just as at Wimbledon when Kubler finally looked a little out of his depth against another big server Taylor Fritz, he couldn't get himself into Bublik's service games as the Kazakh No.3 seed dropped only six points on his delivery during the whole match.
It was an anti-climactic end to a remarkable 10-week sequence for Kubler, who got through qualifying to be the last Aussie man standing at the French Open and also qualified at Wimbledon, winning six matches in all, including a win over British seed Dan Evans en route to the last-16.
Kubler also won a Challenger event and reached the final of another in the US during this period and will next week jump to No.96 in the world - a position which would have been much higher if there had been ranking points on offer at Wimbledon.
"Facing me in Newport is not an easy task," the 24-year-old Bublik said on court after handing Kubler only his fifth defeat in his last 30 matches.
"I played well. I wish him (Kubler) all the best... he had his streak - maybe I will have mine!"
In the other match, world No.41 Cressy got lucky with a weird winner that earned him the crucial break in the deciding set and helped him make his third final of the season.
He'd mishit a service return which soared high and barely made it over the net, but then spun back over to his side of the court before an astonished Isner could get to it.
"The opportunities came and I seized one of them - by luck. I apologised to him, but I guess I created the luck by staying patient," shrugged Cressy.
