BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- In the third round of the men's singles of the 2024 ATP1000 Rome Masters that ended in the early morning of the 13th, Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen defeated the No. 12 seed of the tournament Shelton of the United States 6:2, 6:4 in straight sets and advanced to the men's singles round of 16.
In a meeting at last year's Australian Open, Shelton defeated Zhang Zhizhen in five sets. Zhang Zhizhen has been in poor form recently, suffering a "round trip" in Barcelona and Madrid. But this time against Shelton, who was ranked higher than him, he showed his hot hand in the first set, breaking his opponent's two service games and winning 6-2. In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen held on to his opponent through multiple shots, and finally won 6:4, and the whole game took only 70 minutes.
"I basically used everything I prepared, I watched some of his matches before the match, and I did a good job of receiving serve today, maintaining my form very well, and I didn't give my opponent a chance. Even if the opponent finds an opportunity, he can grab back that point or two. Zhang Zhizhen said.
With a win, Zhang's instant world ranking rose to No. 51. His opponent in the next round will be Brazilian qualifier Monteiro. The latter battled in three sets to defeat Serbia's No. 31 seed Kecmanovic 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (6).
Zhang Zhizhen said that everyone in the draw is in very good shape at this stage, everyone has a chance, and his goal is the semi-finals.