It was game over for the Austrian number one after taking the lead in the semi-final against Emil Rusuuri.
For the third time in his career, after Kitzbühel 2017 and Astana 2023, Sebastian Offner reached the semi-finals of an ATP event. But the 27-year-old still has to wait for his final debut: after three strong wins, Styrian had to concede defeat at the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open on Saturday morning after CET. St. Mariner (ATP 43) lost in the semi-finals to Finn Emil Rusuvuri (ATP 69) 6:4, 5:7, 3:6 after a grueling, 2:12-hour battle. Thanks to his 100 ATP points win, he will be ranked 37th in the world's top 40 for the first time on Monday. Offner will play another ATP 250 preparation tournament on hard courts before the Australian Open in Melbourne. : ASB Classic in Auckland. In New Zealand he will start immediately at seventh seed against former world number 10 Denis Shapovalo (ATP 109) of Canada, who needs a wildcard from Wimbledon 2023 after an injury layoff.
Ofner had lost his only fight so far to Roosuvuri at the Davis Cup in Finland in 2019, 3:6, 4:6. At this time, Wolfgang Thiem's ATC Academy defender, watched over by his tour coach Stefan Redlal on the ground, was very close to the feeling of victory. But a break point went untapped at 5:5 in the second period and the game turned against him.
