Andrey Rublev was not able to defend his title at the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open (中銀香港網球公開賽) as he went down in the Round of 16 to Fabian Marozsan by a final score of 5-7, 6-3, 3-6. In my previous blog post, I addressed whether or not Rublev could defend his title and what that might mean for his Australian Open chances.
In short, Rublev has to be disappointed to not defend his title, especially to go out so early in the tournament. It'll be interesting to see if he's able to still make a deep run at the Australian Open or if he'll flame out of that event early as well. It's always hard to predict how guys will respond from a disappointing tournament. Especially at the grand slam level.
As for the winner of the tournament, Alexandre Müller defeated Kei Nishikori in the final in three sets: 2-6, 6-1, 6-3. This is the first ATP title of Müller's career and as a result, he has achieved the highest ranking of his career at No. 56 in the world.
Müller had an impressive tournament and showed a lot of resiliency, dropping the first set in each of his five matches played. His tightest match was in the Round of 16 against Miomir Kecmanovic, winning 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. Müller could have thrown in the towel, but instead he showed a lot of fight and determination to win the first title of his career.
Of course, the big question now is how Müller will perform at the Australian Open. As a result of his ranking, he should get the best grand slam draw he's ever had. He's reached the 2nd round at every grand slam at least once in his career and last year, he reached the 2nd round in three of the four grand slams (Wimbledon, US Open, and French Open). Perhaps he's on the verge of a breakout season.
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