Zhang Zhizhen celebrates victory.
Once again, Zhang Zhizhen made history for himself and Chinese mainland men's tennis.
On the evening of the 27th, in the first round of the ATP1000 Madrid Masters, Zhang Zhizhen faced qualifier Rodionov and successfully won 7-6 (6), 6-4 and entered the second round.
This is the first singles victory in the history of Chinese mainland men's clay Masters, and the first singles victory on the clay-clay tour.
Next, Zhang Zhizhen will face strong opponents Shapovalov, and also face the challenges of the Rome Masters and even the French Open.
The encounter did not let the key points slip away
At this Madrid Masters, the Chinese mainland men's tennis made history when the signing form was released - Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Yixiang both entered the main tournament with their rankings, which is the first time that the ATP Clay-court Masters has seen this scene.
In the match earlier, Wu Yixiang lost two consecutive sets to a 2-6, 4-6 defeat to Slovakia's Morkan, who specializes in clay clay, but unfortunately failed to cross a new milestone.
A day later, Zhang Zhizhen did not miss this opportunity.
This time opposite Zhang Zhizhen is Austria's Rodionov, who advanced through the qualifying round, and the two have not met before, and this meeting can be called an encounter.
In terms of world rankings, Zhang Zhizhen, currently ranked 99th, is slightly higher than his opponent in 119th, and the battle between the two sides was extremely fierce from the beginning - Rodionov took the break first, but Zhang Zhizhen completed the break in the 6th game.
The two sides then fought fiercely to tie seven, and Zhang Zhizhen scored three consecutive points after saving the set to grab seven 8-6 to take the next city.
In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen did not waste his lead, and after breaking serve in the fifth game, he maintained the lead and finally won the second set 6-4.
Statistics show that Zhang Zhizhen issued a total of 10 ACE balls in the whole game, twice as much as his opponent, and at the same time led his opponent in several statistics such as one-shot goal rate, one-serve scoring rate and second-serve scoring rate.
In terms of the grasp of key points, Zhang Zhizhen successfully cashed in the two break points obtained in the whole game, especially his key point performance in the seven big battles, which was even more impressive.
"My legs are shaking"
Zhang Zhizhen's victory was the first victory in the history of the ATP Clay-clay Tour for the Chinese mainland men's tennis tournament, and Zhang Zhizhen himself was pleasantly surprised by such a breakthrough.
Previously, Zhang Zhizhen had experienced more than once being reversed by his opponent when he won match points or even multiple match points, and this time he also encountered similar psychological pressure.
"On the surface you may think I'm calm, but my legs are shaking, especially when I lead 40-0 on serve and have been chased back two match points in a row." He said after the game.
"I had a lot of bad memories on the match point and then lost the game. My legs are still shaking now, but you can't see it, and it's not easy. ”
In Zhang's own words, he thought that the first Masters victory would come in a hard court event, "I didn't expect to achieve it on clay, but anyway, I was happy to get the first victory here." ”
As a result, Zhang Zhizhen added another dry wood to his confidence in the clay season.
In fact, Zhang Zhizhen has played in clay events many times before - he reached the final four of the clay challenge in 2021, and in 2022, he won one title and two runners-up in the clay challenge.
Prior to Madrid this year, he had already played in three clay-court tournaments – in the first round of the ATP 250 class Houston, in the second round of the Challenge Sarasota, and in the quarter-finals at the Challenge Tallahassee.
Everything will be ready for the next one
After defeating Rodionov and creating a history of his career and Chinese mainland men's tennis, Zhang Zhizhen will face a more serious challenge.
In the second round, his opponent will be Canada's 21st seed Shapovalov, who advanced directly to the second round by the first round.
Prior to this, the record between Zhang Zhizhen and Shapovalov was also blank, but Shapovalov and another Chinese player, Wu Yixiang, had a matchup: at this year's ATP 250 class in Dallas, Wu Yixiang won 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the round of 16.
Later, Wu Yixiang also made it all the way to the final of that tournament and won the championship, creating a new historical peak in Chinese men's tennis.
Shapovalov, a 24-year-old left-handed backhander, played just one clay-court tournament before the Madrid Masters this year – losing to fifth-seeded Tsitsipas at ATP500 Barcelona in the second round.
Looking at his performance this year, he has not yet highlighted, with a season-to-date record of 7-8. In the face of such an opponent, Zhang Zhizhen is undoubtedly not the party that is favored to win, but if he tries his best, he may not be able to cause trouble for his opponent.
'The next game is against top players, I'll be ready for everything, he's not that easy to beat, I'll try to be ready for it.' Looking forward to the second round of fighting, Zhang Zhizhen said.