ATP Tour

Bublik clinches Hong Kong crown, set to crack Top 10

Alexander Bublik captured his ninth ATP Tour title and fifth since June on Sunday at the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open where he overcame Lorenzo Musetti.

The second seed soaked up Musetti’s variety and used his big baseline game to inflict his own damage on the Italian, earning a 7-6(2), 6-3 victory. Bublik will make his Top 10 debut in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday following his title run, becoming the first Kazakhstani man to crack the Top 10.

"The only goal for this season was to achieve the Top 10 and in the first week I have won the title and I am into the Top 10," Bublik said. "If you had told me that last April I would never have believed you. But it is a pleasure and I hope to continue in the same way."

Bublik enjoyed a standout second half of last season, lifting trophies in Halle, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and Hangzhou. In his first event of the new year, the 28-year-old continued from where he left off, dropping just one set at the ATP 250 in Hong Kong.

Musetti was aiming to capture his first title since he won in Naples in 2022. However, the 23-year-old suffered more final heartbreak and is now 2-7 in tour-level finals, having lost his past seven finals. In contrast, Bublik holds a 9-7 record in title matches, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Despite his defeat, Musetti will climb into the Top 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday. He is the third Italian to achieve the feat, joining Jannik Sinner and Adriano Panatta.

In a tense first set, Bublik came up with a moment of magic at 2/2 in the tie-break when he fired a backhand winner to lead. He reeled off the next four points to claim the opening set and then recovered from squandering a break advantage in the second set to improve to 3-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Musetti.