Preview Hangzhou Open Semifinals: Alexander Bublik and Corentin Moutet fiery past could set up an explosive final

The tournaments of the first week of the Asian swing are beginning to be defined, with the ATP 250 Hangzhou Open as one of the first stops in a series of four tournaments to be played in China, ending with the Shanghai Masters in two weeks. Alexander Bublik and Corentin Moutet appear as favorites to advance to the final, in what could be a reunion after a heated controversy earlier in the year.

Both players have made the most of the long journey from the North American swing to the Asian swing and have had a great campaign. Moutet entered as the 4th seed and has leveraged his position to reach the semifinals of an ATP tournament for the 4th time this season and enter the top-40—his best historical ranking. He will face his compatriot Valentin Royer, who came from the qualifying rounds.

On the bottom half of the draw, Alexander Bublik continues his inspired form after a notable few months. He has won three titles in the last three months and has once again asserted his status as a favorite in Hangzhou. The third seed will face wildcard Yibing Wu, who has rediscovered his level after a couple of seasons filled with injuries.

Both Bublik and Moutet appear as favorites in their matches and could meet for the first time since their controversy in the quarterfinals of the Phoenix Challenger. A match that ended with the Kazakh inciting a fight with his rival. "You want to fight? The French kid talks, but he doesn’t want to fight. Let’s meet outside in ten minutes," he said on that occasion.

An all-French duel: Moutet faces qualifier Royer

A French duel will be the first semifinal in Hangzhou, between two players who have found inspiration this week. The case of Royer—a 24-year-old player—is special after coming from the qualifying rounds. Without major credentials, he has made his way, defeating rivals like Andrey Rublev (1st) and Learner Tien (7th) along the way. Without major previous credentials, Royer had never reached the semifinals of an ATP-level tournament, and he has now reached his best ranking—at least as world No. 83 if he does not continue to advance.

He will face the irreverent Corentin Moutet, a player with a unique style who has shown his talent for years, but has never been able to find too much consistency on the Tour. However, the 26-year-old Frenchman has had a good 2025, reaching the final at the Mallorca Open and semifinals in three tournaments so far—including the DC Open, his best performance in an ATP 500 in his career.

A week ago, he was the hero in the Davis Cup, with victories against the Croats Dino Prizmic and Marin Cilic to give France classification to the 2026 Qualifiers. He quickly traveled to Hangzhou, where he got a bye in the first round as the 4th seed, and defeated Arthur Cazaux and Tomas Martin Etcheverry along the way. It is undoubtedly an important opportunity for the 26-year-old player, who guaranteed his best ranking as world No. 37 at the end of the tournament.

Match Info: Valentin Royer - Corentin Moutet

Start time (local): Mon, 22 Sep, 5:30 PM

Start time (your time): Mon, 22 Sep, 5:30 PM

Court: Center Court

Tournament: Lynk & Co Hangzhou Open

Round: Semifinal

Head-to-Head

	Royer	Moutet
H2H Record
Total Wins	0	0
Win Streak	0	0
Ranking
Official Ranking	88	39
Race Ranking	85	40
Live Ranking
Live Ranking	83 (+5)	37 (+2)
Live Race Ranking	68 (+17)	38 (+2)
Bios
Age	24 (29 May 2001)	26 (19 Apr 1999)
Birthplace	Neuilly-sur-Seine, France	Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Residence	-	Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
Height	-	5'8" (175cm)
Weight	-	150lbs (68kg)
Plays	Right-handed, two handed backhand	Left-handed (one and two-handed backhand)
Turned Pro	-	2016
Coach	Julian Gillet	Petar Popović (2022–present), Laurent Raymond (2019–2022)
YTD W/L	50-21 (70%)	31-21 (60%)
YTD Titles	2	-
Career Titles	0	0
Prize Money	US $ 690,583	US $4,949,330
Past Meetings
First meeting

Bublik's hot streak faces hometown hero's Wu Yibing

Alexander Bublik's results over the past few months give continuity to a change in trend that began to emerge at Roland Garros. Since then, he has a win-loss record of 22-3 and titles in the Halle Open, Gstaad Open, and Kitzbühel tournaments. The Kazakh had a first half of the year to forget, but he found his way and in a few months went from being outside the top-80 to No. 19. The Kazakh beat Aleksandar Vukic and Dalibor Svrcina this week without too many problems, once again showing his great level of recent times. Of his last 5 tournaments, he won three titles and only had losses at Wimbledon in the first round (Jaume Munar) and the US Open (against Jannik Sinner).

He will face an inspired Wu Yibing, who seems to be starting to leave his injury problems behind and, as a local, has racked up a good series of wins against several big-name rivals. After obtaining a wildcard, he eliminated Adrian Mannarino (6th), Sebastian Korda, and Daniil Medvedev (2nd)—all of them in three sets. The 25-year-old Chinese player is looking to reach the second final of his career—after winning the Dallas Open 2023 title against John Isner.

Match Info: Alexander Bublik - Yibing Wu

Start time (local): Mon, 22 Sep, 7:30 PM

Start time (your time): Mon, 22 Sep, 7:30 PM

Court: Center Court

Tournament: Lynk & Co Hangzhou Open

Round: Semifinal

Head-to-Head

	Bublik	Wu
H2H Record
Total Wins	0	0
Win Streak	0	0
Ranking
Official Ranking	19	196
Race Ranking	15	208
Live Ranking
Live Ranking	19	158 (+38)
Live Race Ranking	13 (+2)	157 (+51)
Bios
Age	28 (17 Jun 1997)	25 (14 Oct 1999)
Birthplace	Gatchina, Russia	Hangzhou, China
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco	Hangzhou, China
Height	6'3" (193cm)	6'0" (183cm)
Weight	168lbs (76kg)	176lbs (80kg)
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Turned Pro	2014	2017
Coach	Artyom Suprunov	Dante Bottini (2025-),, Marcos Baghdatis(2023–2024), Gerardo Azcurra (2023),, Chen Yanbei, Nahum García Sánchez
YTD W/L	39-18 (68%)	23-8 (74%)
YTD Titles	4	1
Career Titles	7	1
Prize Money	US $ 9,520,869	US $ 1,267,658
Past Meetings
First meeting