On May 4, the ATP1000 Madrid Masters began the men's singles quarterfinals. China's Zhang Zhizhen eventually lost 6-7, 4-6 to Russia's Karatsev to reach the quarterfinals of this Masters. Zhang Zhizhen still set his own and Chinese men's tennis best results at the Clay Masters. In the new ATP world rankings, Zhang Zhizhen's world ranking will also enter the top 70 for the first time.
The Masters was a pleasant surprise for Zhang Zhizhen. Due to the announcement of the withdrawal of many seeded players before the match, Zhang Zhizhen, who was originally not qualified for the main tournament in the world ranking, was lucky to stand on the main match court of the Madrid match. Since then, Zhang Zhizhen has defeated famous players including Shapovalov, Norrie and Fritz all the way, winning all seven games in seven games. Zhang Zhizhen was also given the title of "Tiger of Seven Robbery" by commentators.
After advancing to the quarterfinals of the Madrid tournament, Zhang Zhizhen faced Russia's Karatsev. Before the game, the two had a practice match. Karatsev beat Zhang Zhizhen 6-0. However, Zhang Zhizhen said that training is training, and competition is competition. In the opening stages of the match, Karatsev was a little slow and hot, and he sent a double error on the first serve. But Karatsev's serve was powerful and smoothly saved. In Karatsev's third serve, his baseline holding ball suddenly lost accuracy, sending three consecutive break points at 0-40. But he then managed to save serve with a strong serve and forehand chipping.
Coming to Zhang Zhizhen's third serve, Karatsev improved the quality of his serve and forced a break point at one point. Zhang Zhizhen responded with a stronger serve and tenaciously saved his serve to bring the game to a 3-3 draw. After that, after both sides held serve strongly, the game came to the first tie-break. Karatsev missed the ball and delivered the first point. It is a pity that Zhang Zhizhen failed to save his hair by two points and fell into passivity. Zhang Zhizhen made a double error at the match point to eat the first seven-steal defeat of the Madrid Masters 6-7.
In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen's first serve was challenged by his opponent's strong serve. Zhang Zhizhen tried his serve online tactics in order to bring a breakthrough. However, Karatsev still got a break point. After that, Karatsev made a cut to let Zhang Zhizhen off the net. Zhang Zhizhen fell into a disadvantageous situation at the beginning of the second set. In terms of forehand winning scores, Karatsev far outscored Zhang Zhizhen in the first set 14-2. In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen never managed to find a strategy to hold his opponent back. In the end, Karatsev did not give Zhang Zhizhen a chance to break the serve, and sealed the victory 6-4.
Although Zhang Zhizhen did not qualify for the final four of the Madrid Tournament, he has gained a lot in this tournament. Zhang Zhizhen's world instant ranking will reach 66th. Although not breaking through Wu Yixiang's 55th Chinese men's tennis ranking, Zhang Zhizhen still created himself and a series of firsts in Chinese men's tennis, in the Clay Masters. It is believed that Chinese men's tennis will continue to bring breakthroughs and surprises to tennis fans.
Text/Beiqing Sports Chu Peng