At present, the Australian Open, one of the four Grand Slams, is in full swing. In the men's second round on the 18th, Chinese teenager Shang Juncheng, who reached the second round in his first Grand Slam main draw, lost three consecutive sets to Thiafoo, the 16th seed and former US Open quarterfinalist. At this point, there are no Chinese players in the Australian Open men's singles arena.
Despite this, we can still see the progress of the Chinese men's tennis. Zhang Zhizhen, the first brother of the Chinese men's tennis team, played two sets in the first round of the 2022 US Open, missed seven match points in the third set, and was reversed by his opponent in the big lead situation. In the subsequent tour, Zhang Zhizhen defeated former Australian Open quarterfinalists Karatsev and former Wimbledon quarterfinalists such as Fočović, entering the TOP100 for the first time in the world ranking, creating the highest ranking in the history of Chinese mainland men's tennis players.
In 2023, due to the withdrawal of American player Opelka, Zhang Zhizhen was able to directly enter the Australian Open main draw. It is worth mentioning that this is the first time since Wu Di appeared in the Australian Open main draw in 2013 that Chinese mainland player directly entered the Grand Slam main draw by ranking. An even bigger surprise is yet to come, with U.S. Open junior champion Wu Yixiang, who defeated former Chinese Open champion Baslashvili at the US Open in 2022 and won his first Grand Slam victory for a Chinese mainland player, receiving an Australian Open wildcard. It should be noted that this is the first time that a Chinese player does not need to compete fiercely in a wild card battle to directly obtain a Grand Slam main draw wild card. Objectively speaking, the Chinese men's tennis has made history.
Just a few days ago, after 05, China's Shang Juncheng defeated Hungary's Fabian, former Australian Open quarterfinalist Vodasco, and former Australian Open junior champion Pirosz of Hungary in the Australian Open qualifying round, winning three consecutive matches in his first Grand Slam qualifying tournament and reaching the first Grand Slam main draw of his career. So far, the 2023 Australian Open has ushered in three Chinese players, Zhang Zhizhen, Wu Yixiang, and Shang Juncheng, for the first time, and the Chinese mainland men's tennis ushered in its own spring.
In the first round of the Australian Open, when he was first taken by his opponent, Wu Yixiang did not panic and equalized the score. After that, although he was overtaken by his opponent again, he broke his opponent's serve and equalized the big score. In the tiebreaker, the opponent deliberately delayed time, resulting in Wu Yiyang's state being unable to continue, and his energy could not be fully concentrated, and finally he regrettably lost to his opponent. Despite this, being able to tie the score twice when he was two times behind, doesn't this mean that Wu Yixiang already has a certain strength.
On this day, Shang Juncheng, facing Germany's Ott, who has played nine Grand Slam main draws, played his momentum, far surpassing his opponent in terms of winning points, breaking serves, and online scoring rate. After four sets, Shang defeated his opponent and scored his first Grand Slam victory in his career in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
Zhang Zhizhen, the first brother of the Chinese men's tennis who directly entered the Australian Open main draw, was beaten hard by his opponent when he went first, and his serve was missed several times, and finally the opponent overtook the score. Despite this, Zhang Zhizhen did not give up, breaking his opponent's serve in the fourth set to win the match and drag the match into the tiebreaker.
In the tiebreaker, when the score was in a stalemate stage, it rained heavily, and the match could only be interrupted. After the game resumed, Zhang Zhizhen once won a match point, but unfortunately it was not fulfilled. In the ten-for-ten, Zhang Zhizhen was somewhat conservative, and the opponent played several good balls in a row, and finally Zhang Zhizhen lost the game regrettably.
Looking at the performance of these three Chinese players, although Wu Yixiang lost the match, he lost more to his opponent's off-set move; Zhang Zhizhen's defeat is probably more psychological; And Shang Juncheng's ability to win three consecutive games in the qualifying round to enter the main tournament has brought us an unexpected surprise. Since then, the business has exceeded our expectations by being able to go one step further in the main race. Moreover, this is the first time that a Chinese player has won the Australian Open for the first time. Even if they lose, they play five full sets, which does not indicate that Chinese male tennis players are already improving. In the coming days, how will Chinese male tennis players perform? Let's wait and see. (Source: Tennis House Author: Yixin Jushi)
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