On the evening of April 25, Beijing time, the 2024 ATP 1000 Madrid Masters continued to compete in the first round. China's first brother Zhang Zhizhen was not in good shape, and was swept by Kecmanovic in two sets 3-6 and 2-6, and suffered a round of tours, with serious points loss and the TOP50 not guaranteed.
In the 2023 season, the Chinese men's singles brother continued to break through, defeating the eighth seed Fritz at the Madrid Masters, becoming the first Chinese mainland men's tennis player in history to reach the quarterfinals of the Masters; reached the round of 32 twice in Grand Slam tournaments (French Open, US Open); defeated Ruud in the second round of the US Open men's singles five-set battle, which was also the first time in his career that he defeated a high-level player ranked in the top five in the world. In September, Zhang Zhizhen won the men's singles gold medal in the Asian Games and qualified for the Paris Olympics, which is also the first time that Chinese men's tennis has reached the top of Asia after 29 years. At the end of the year, he was rated as one of the top ten athletes in China in 2023 by the Ministry of Sports of Xinhua News Agency.
In the new season, Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of the Australian Open Grand Slam singles for the first time, and reached the semifinals of doubles. The ATP 250 in Marseille was the first doubles title. Compared with the dazzling performance of doubles, the singles field mostly encountered the first and second rounds, and the results were relatively bleak. Entering the clay season, the Monte Carlo Masters won in the first round and got off to a good start, but failed to move forward, and suffered a first-round tour in Barcelona. As a result of reaching the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters last year, Zhang Zhizhen is under pressure to keep 150 points.
Zhang Zhizhen is currently ranked 49th in the world, and his first-round opponent is Serbia's Kecmanovic, ranked 66th in the world, and the two sides have met once in the 2017 Challenger, Zhang Zhizhen lost 0-2 to his opponent, but the age is far from having much reference value.
In the first set, Kecmanovic took the lead in serve, successfully broke in the sixth game, and relied on the only break of both sides to win the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen took the lead in serving. But the first two service games that came up were not saved, and they fell behind 0-4. After that, both sides held serve, and Kecmanovic won the match 6-2 with four consecutive points in the service game.
It can be said that tonight's Chinese first brother is not in a state at all, his preparation is not sufficient, his body is tight, he does not do well in the service and receiving links, and he is even more miserable in technical statistics such as the first-serve scoring rate and the success rate of breaking, and failure is inevitable.
With Zhang Zhizhen's defeat in the first round, the huge points of 150 points in the quarterfinals last year will be deducted, Zhang Zhizhen's ranking will drop sharply, and the status of the TOP50 will definitely not be guaranteed. I hope that the first brother of China will adjust his state in time and look forward to the return of the king.
In addition, there are two key matches in Madrid tonight, the first round of the Madrid Masters, Nadal vs Blanche. This is likely to be the last time Madrid's five-time champion Rafael Nadal will play in the Spanish capital, and tonight he will face Blanche, who is 21 years his junior, and Nadal will surely be aiming to find his form and improve his fitness. Blanche is not an ordinary person, he is a disciple of Ferrero, a disciple of Alcaraz, let's see how the king behaves!
Another key match is in the women's field, where China's golden flower Wang Xiyu will challenge the world's No. 1 sister Swiatek in the second round, and although it is a very difficult match for Wang Xiyu, it is also an honor to be able to play against the world's No. 1 sister. At 01:30 in the game time, let's cheer for China Jinhua together!