Lorenzo Musetti was defeated in the final in Hong Kong: the 23-year-old Tuscan, already certain of being the new world number 5, was beaten 7-6, 6-3 by the Kazakh Aleksandr Bublik. Musetti suffered a sore arm and was defeated for the seventh consecutive time in an ATP final, after an hour and 39 minutes of play. Bublik, however, won the ninth title of his career and enters the top 10 for the first time, overtaking the injured Jack Draper in the rankings.
Bitter ending in the Bank of China Tennis Open therefore, for the 23-year-old from Carrara, who has not won an ATP final since October 23, 2022, when he beat Matteo Berrettini in Naples. Musetti meanwhile played in two slam semi-finals and won an Olympic bronze, but never won a tournament again. “It’s not easy to talk after a defeat, especially after a final,” said Musetti who congratulated his opponent “for a splendid season.” “We have played many finals in the last three years, unfortunately we have not lifted any trophies and we hope that the next one will be the right one,” he added.
Bublik said he was certain that Musetti will win a tournament soon: “I have no words,” he said at the end of the match, “it’s the first week of the year, he’s already won the first tournament and I’m top 10. Last April I would never have expected it.”
The first set was very balanced and dominated by serves: only in the ninth game did Musetti have a ball to serve for the set, but he was unable to convert it. At 5-5 the Tuscan had another failed break point, then at the changeover he called a medical time out due to a problem in his arm. In the tie-break an error at 2-4 effectively gave Bublik the first set. The second set was dominated by the Kazakh: break to zero in the third game, immediately recovered, and then another in the very long fifth game which put the final downhill also because Musetti had to ask for another medical time out and ended up giving up another serve for the final 6-3.