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Hong Kong<\/span><\/p>\n Bublik moves closer to Top 10 debut Is Lorenzo Musetti<\/a> poised to finally end his near four-year wait for an ATP Tour title at this week\u2019s Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open<\/a>?<\/p>\n The top-seeded Italian took another assured step forward on Friday, brushing aside home favourite Coleman Wong<\/a> 6-4, 6-4 to book his place in the semi-finals. Musetti, who has not lifted an ATP Tour title since he won two in 2022, can now look forward to a meeting with former Hong Kong champion Andrey Rublev<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew I had to be really, really solid from the beginning,\u201d said Musetti, who improved to 2-0 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Wong. \u201cIt was a really close match, but I stayed really focused until the end. So I\u2019m really happy and proud to start 2026 well.\u201d<\/p>\n Rublev hit 22 winners and saved the only break point he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats, in his 6-3, 6-4 clinic against Nuno Borges<\/a>. The third-seeded Rublev won his only previous meeting with Musetti in Dubai in 2020, but the Italian is a considerably improved player since then.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m happy to be back in the semi-finals here in Hong Kong,\u201d said 2024 champion Rublev. \u201cLorenzo is playing unbelievable the last couple of years, he\u2019s getting better and better. When I played him the first time, he was super young, so it doesn\u2019t really count. I need to be really ready if I want to have a chance for a good fight.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as reaching a career-high No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2025, Musetti also reached three finals. He let slip two championship points against Alejandro Tabilo<\/a> in Chengdu and later fell to Novak Djokovic<\/a> in a gruelling three-hour Athens final.<\/p>\n Alexander Bublik<\/a> moved one step closer to a debut inside the world\u2019s Top 10 when he defeated Shang Juncheng<\/a> 6-1, 7-6(2) in 85 minutes. Into his 23rd tour-level semi-final, the Kazakhstani could jump one spot to No. 10 if he wins the title at the ATP 250 event.<\/p>\n Access denied \u274c@Hkto_mens<\/a> | #BOCKTO2026<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/I1dhYkPzWA<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 ATP Tour (@atptour) January 9, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very tough to play Jerry when he\u2019s in the mood. In the second set, he was playing unbelievable tennis,\u201d Bublik said of Shang. \u201cI hope I can maintain [the momentum]. I hope to continue well.\u201d<\/p>\n Bublik will next face American Marcos Giron<\/a>. He led Michael Mmoh<\/a> 6-3, 1-0 when the latter was forced to retire due to injury.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/a> Hong Kong Musetti, chasing first title since 2022, meets Rublev in Hong Kong SF showdown Bublik moves closer to Top 10 debut January 09, 2026 Mike Frey \/ HKCTA Lorenzo Musetti is chasing his first ATP Tour title since 2022. By Jerome Coombe Is Lorenzo Musetti poised to finally end his near four-year wait for … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lorenzo-Musetti-chasing-first-title-since-2022-meets-Andrey-Rublev.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16425,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16423\/revisions\/16425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Musetti, chasing first title since 2022, meets Rublev in Hong Kong SF showdown<\/h2>\n
\n January 09, 2026<\/p>\n
\n Lorenzo Musetti is chasing his first ATP Tour title since 2022. <\/span>
\n By Jerome Coombe<\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"