Alexandre Muller wins San Marino Open Tennis Internationals

Alexandre Muller Wins San Marino Open Tennis International

Alexandre Muller, No. 99 Atp and third seed, è the winner of the 31ª edition of the Internazionali di Tennis San Marino Open, Challenger ATP 125 (prize money € 148,625) staged on the clay courts of the Centro Cassa di Risparmio di Montecchio: at the end of a hard-fought final he è imposed himself with the score of 6-3 4-6 7-6(3), after two hours and three quarters of struggle, over Chun-Hsin Tseng, 22-year-old Chinese from Taipei (no.146, but a year ago finished at’83° place). Thanks to the 125 points up for grabs, the 27-year-old from Poissy will gain 22 positions, taking him to 77° place in the world rankings, rather close to his best ranking of No. 71

Under the eyes of the Most Excellent Captains Regent (the Heads of State of the’Ancient Republic), Alessandro Rossi and Milena Gasperoni, who were present in the tribune d’d’onore together with the Secretaries of State for Sport Rossano Fabbri and Labor Alessandro Bevitori, the first break ball came in the fourth game: Tseng was the one to get it, but the transalpine who opened 2024 with the quarterfinals in the Auckland ATP 250, then pushed himself all the way to the round of 16 in the Rome Masters 1000 by eliminating among others two top players such as Arthur Fils and Andrey Rublev, managed to cancel it before making it 2-2. And in the next game è instead the 22-year-old Asian, qualified for the 2022 edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals (the last one staged in Milan), to concede two consecutive ones, with Muller ready to take advantage of the second one with an aggressive response (3-2). Break consolidated by the 27-year-old from Poissy, who then on 4-3 clung to a pair of strong first serves to erase a counter-break chance and go up 5-3. And in the next game from 30-all the Chinese with an easy volley into the net a

open court and a double fault gives the set to the player who Saturday night in the semifinals had stopped Fabio Fognini, the first seeded favorite.

In the second fraction Tseng tried to be more aggressive, as he had succeeded 24 hours earlier against the Argentine Comesana, and taking advantage of a small lapse of the opponent he went ahead 2-0. Immediate the reaction of Muller, quick of legs and solid in his shots, with counter-break and overtaking (3-2). Forò on 3-3, the Frenchman got wrapped up, giving up his service accomplice a double fault and a forehand into the net. Break immediately returned by the tennis player born on the island of Formosa (4-4) without exploiting a 40-15 situation, forò the third “tear” è the good one for the Asian tennis player, who evens the score (6-4) after facing a ball for 5-5. The third set opened in the sign of Muller, who flew 3-0, break confirmed to hoist himself 4-1 and 5-2, but in the ninth game when è went to serve for the trophy the Frenchman cashed in the counter-break of his rival, with subsequent reattachment at 5-5. The tie-break was then needed to settle the balance and decree the winner, in which the 27-year-old from Poissy flew to 6-0, suffered Tseng’s comeback until 3-6 then could raise his arms to the sky when a backhand from his opponent ended up long.

The protagonists of the final were honored by the Secretary of State for Sport, Rossano Fabbri, and the Special Secretary of the Secretary of State for Tourism, Alan Gasperoni, with Mahena Abbati, tournament director, and Filippo Francini, vice president of the San Marino Tennis Federation, next to them.

“In our previous match in Prague I had lost on the tie-break of the third set to Tseng and this time instead è it was my turn to come out on top – the words of Muller, at his third career Challenger title, during the award ceremony – Thanks to the audience in the stands for making the atmosphere special and thanks to my coach, who saw his effort to be next to me this week paid off. I really enjoyed this week in San Marino, with impeccable services from every point of view. I will be back next year”.

That leaves five trophies in the Challenger circuit in the trophy cabinet for the Taipei tennis player, who at the junior level in 2018 won Roland Garros and Wimbledon while reaching the final of the Australian Open and Us Open, so that he became No. 1 in the under-18 world rankings. Chun-Hsin Tseng will climb back up to 122° place in the ATP rankings.