Comeback king Alexandre Muller beats Kei Nishikori to win Hong Kong Tennis Open
Frenchman edges Japanese veteran in thrilling final at Victoria Park, after Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov earlier lose doubles decider
France’s Alexandre Muller hailed an “amazing” tournament after winning the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open by beating Kei Nishikori of Japan in an enthralling three-set battle on Sunday.
Muller has been the comeback king for the past week at Victoria Park Tennis Stadium, and duly recovered from losing the first set for a fifth match in a row to land his maiden ATP tour title.
He fought back valiantly to prevail 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, dropping to his knees when Nishikori hit the ball into the net on match point.
Having just earned himself US$103,445 in prize money plus a rankings boost from 67 to a career-high 56, the 27-year-old Muller was almost speechless when interviewed courtside.
“I don’t really know what to say, thank you everyone,” he told the crowd. “I want to thank Kei, too, he’s an amazing player.”
Muller became only the third man since the Open era began in 1968 to win an ATP title having lost the opening set in every match, following Arthur Ashe at the 1975 WCT Finals and Alexander Bublik in Montpellier last year. It amounted to what Muller called “a long and tough week”.
