Thrilling Chubb UTS Hong Kong by Humansa Day 1: Rublev and Cerundolo Secure Semifinal Spots, Wong Shines

Asia and Hong Kong have finally tasted the thrilling excitement of tennis like never before, brought to the stage by UTS. Day 1 of Chubb UTS Hong Kong with Humansa filled the Kai Tak Arena on Tuesday, with the quarterfinals of the third stage of the 2025 UTS Tour.

The final four who qualified are Francisco Cerundolo from Argentina, Juncheng Shang from China, Jenson Brooksby from the USA, and Andrey Rublev from Russia. These players secured their spots in the semifinals by winning their respective quarterfinal matches, with Rublev and Mannarino earning qualification for the London UTS Grand Final.

Local hero Coleman Wong’s campaign to be part of this meeting ended as he lost the final match of Day 1 in the most anticipated contest against No. 2 seed Andrey Rublev. Just as at the US Open, where he lost in five sets, Wong once again pushed the Russian to show his best in a four-quarter thriller (13-12, 11-13, 15-11, 17-11).

« It was so good » Wong smiled, answering to the international media. « I’ve never played something like this before. There is a lot of tension, a lot of very tight moments and I really enjoyed it. Playing at home was amazing. I wish every tournament could be in Hong Kong, but obviously it’s tough for tennis players. »

« UTS is not about experience, it’s about the level of tennis, that’s it » Rublev said. « You play, you have to feel physically ready, if your game is ready to play long rallies, to fight. »

« We both tried to take advantage as soon as we could. And it was indeed a very tight match. We both deserved to win. In the third and fourth quarter, he made a little more mistakes than me and I ended more or less well, that’s the difference. »

Just before this match-up, Brooksby and Shang had been exceptions in making a great start at UTS. Brooksby defeated Zhinzhen Zhang in three quarters, in the most one-sided match of the day (12-11, 17-8, 13-11).

Shang proved stronger than Richard Gasquet after spending a quarter adapting to the innovative UTS rules and unique atmosphere (12-15, 18-10, 17-12, 13-11). This semi-final between Shang and Brooksby will mark a beginners’ clash on the UTS Tour, as neither player is yet qualified for the London Grand Final. Both must reach the final to have a chance.

The other semi-final will feature Rublev and Cerundolo, the two highest-ranked players on the roster. Rublev, a UTS rules expert, will face the Argentine, who has experienced all the ups and downs that come with this format during his quarterfinal.

The first match of the day was a thriller between French creative Adrian Mannarino and UTS newcomer Francisco Cerundolo. One week after a tough battle in Shanghai that ended with the narrowest margin, the two met again.

Despite trailing two quarters to zero, Cerundolo found consistency to challenge Mannarino. With Mannarino leading two quarters to one and up 10-8 in the fourth quarter, the left-hander seemed close to a semi-final spot.

On the decisive point of the quarter, which was a match point for Mannarino, the two engaged in a 70-second and 41-shot rally that pushed boundaries of court lines and geometry rules, finishing with two around-the-net shots. On the final one, Cerundolo clipped the line to tie the score at two quarters all and send the match to sudden death.

Although Mannarino won the opening point of sudden death with a superb return winner, giving him another match point, Cerundolo ultimately fulfilled the requirement to win two points in a row.

“It could have gone either way, for him or me,” Cerundolo said. “But luckily, it went my way. I’m super happy to get my first win in my first UTS match. Adrian was playing great, didn’t miss a ball early on. But after the third quarter, I started playing better. I think we had a rally of 40 balls, and I finished with a backhand around the net. It’s probably one of the biggest shots in UTS history.”

It was indeed, and neither the story of Chubb UTS with Humansa or the UTS season are far from over. Apart from Rublev and Mannarino, a third player, David Goffin from Belgium, secured his ticket via the Race rankings thanks to Tueday’s results. Goffin was runner-up in Guadalajara, and these points allowed him to get through as Gasquet lost and Rublev won at least one match on Tuesday.

Rublev, Mannarino, and Goffin join Tomas Machac from the Czech Republic, winner in Guadalajara; Casper Ruud from Norway, winner of the Bastide Medical UTS Nîmes event; and Jack Draper, 2023 UTS champion, who was granted a wild-card. Two additional tickets remain to be allocated, one of which will be decided on Wednesday in Hong Kong, the other through a wild-card.

DAY 1 : Quarterfinals results

Cerundolo – Mannarino : 9-16, 8-16, 16-13, 11-10 [2-1]

Shang – Gasquet : 12-15, 18-10, 17-12, 13-11

Brooksby – Zhang :12-11, 17-8, 13-11

Rublev – Wong : 13-12, 11-13, 15-11, 17-11

DAY 2 Schedule

5:00 pm : Zhang – Mannarino (classification match)

5:50 pm : Shang – Brooksby (semifinal)

7:00 pm : Rublev – Cerundolo (semifinal)

7:50 pm : Wong – Gasquet  (classification match)

9:00 pm : Final