Andrey Rublev put together a really solid week at the 2024 Hong Kong Open, ending up in the final, which he won against Emil Ruusuvuori.
Rublev has a habit of collecting these smaller events as he's simply too good for the fields that generally play them. He missed out on the Grand Slams, which is the next step, but for now, he'll be glad to start 2024 on a pretty high note.
Opting against playing early in Australia, Rublev traveled to Hong Kong, where we had a pretty decent field but not as good as those Down Under. That allowed Rublev to cruise through his matches and end up in the final against Ruusuvori.
The heavy favorite on paper, Rublev did well to win the match in two sets and lift another trophy. The final score was a simple 6-4 6-4 as the Finnish player struggled to muster the consistency needed to beat Rublev.
The key for him would be to consistently find his best hitting. He could do that at times, but it was just not good enough. Ruusuvuori had 13 winners, the same number Rublev had, but also 13 unforced errors, which wasn't the case for Rublev.
He limited that number to six, and that was a huge difference. In a close match where we saw only eight break points, any unforced error was crucial. The crucial rallies also went mostly Rublev's way as he saved the only break point he faced while Ruusuvuori failed to do that.
In the end, it is a good start for Rublev, who is likely to skip all events until the Australian Open after this one. Should that happen, the Grand Slam will be the first event he's played in Australia. Let's see if this alternative route proves to be the correct one for the Russian.
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