On the evening of May 14, Beijing time, the 2024 ATP1000-level Rome Masters in Italy is in full swing, and the fourth round of men's singles staged a key battle, Chinese tennis brother Zhang Zhizhen swept the Brazilian dark horse Monteiro 7-6, 6-3, and reached the top 8 of the Rome Masters for the first time in his career, creating personal history, and this victory is also his second time reaching the quarterfinals of the event, because he also reached the top 8 of the Madrid Masters last year.
Zhang Zhizhen's timely ranking will reach No. 42 in the world, creating a new height in the Chinese men's tennis rankings.
Zhang Zhizhen had a hot performance at the Rome Masters and felt good. He had eliminated world-class players such as Roman Rino and Shelton before, and this time facing the dark horse Monteiro, Zhang Zhizhen played steadily, and the two were very close in the first set, with no break in the first 12 games, and a 6-6 draw.
Later, Zhang Zhizhen played well in the tie-break battle and won 7-4.
In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen took advantage of the victory to chase, and the two held serve in the first 5 games, and Zhang Zhizhen, who led 3-2, broke serve first in the 6th game and took a 4-2 lead. After that, the two held their own serves, and in the 9th game, Zhang Zhizhen ushered in a service game, he did not give his opponent a chance to fight back, Zhang Zhizhen quickly won 3 match points, and he finally successfully cashed in the third match point with a beautiful outside corner ace, and advanced strongly.
In this game, Zhang Zhizhen hit a total of 10 ace balls with a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour, and the first-serve scoring rate reached 82%. And his network front technology has also been greatly improved.
At last year's Madrid Masters, Zhang Zhizhen broke into the top 8 of the tournament, but unfortunately, he was eliminated in the first round of Madrid this year, causing Zhang Zhizhen to fall out of the top 50 in the world ranking.
"It's really not easy, I've been waiting for a year to win, and I reached the last eight of the Masters again a year later," he admitted. I hope to get more points and adapt to such a competitive environment. In the next game, I will stick to my tactics and try to move forward. ”
With the victory in this game, Zhang Zhizhen can get a bonus of 1.26 million yuan, it is said that he fought single-handedly in this battle, and there are no team members around him, I have to say that Zhang Zhizhen is a very courageous and courageous Chinese hot-blooded son. In the quarterfinals, Zhang Zhizhen will face Tabilo who eliminated Djokovic in the third round.
After talking about Zhang Zhizhen, I will talk about my sister Zheng Qinwen. If Zhang Zhizhen's creation of history is exciting, Zheng Qinwen is more stretched.
If Zheng Qinwen does not have the aura of the Australian Open runner-up, but is just an ordinary player, it is already a miracle to be able to reach the top 8 of the Rome Masters, and we should applaud her. However, she is the runner-up of the Australian Open Grand Slam, albeit a parallel import. With the aura of the Australian Open runner-up, Zheng Qinwen has been scolded all the way, and she may know this well in her heart.
Although Zheng Qinwen has made no achievements after the Australian Open, it is either a round of tours or two rounds, exposing the essence of parallel imports. But Zheng Qinwen did not accept endorsements, and making money is the king. Her performance at the Rome Masters was her best in recent months. She eliminated Rogers, Noskova, Naomi Osaka and others successively to enter the top 8. In the face of his fierce rival Gauff, Zheng Qinwen was still inferior in skills and was convinced to lose the game.
In the first set, Gauff served and successfully held serve, and then the two engaged in a fierce tug-of-war, and the score rose alternately, Zheng Qinwen played his momentum, but was broken in the eighth game. However, Zheng Qinwen had the momentum to not admit defeat, and quickly completed the back break, breaking Gauff's serve to win the set.
The game was dragged into a tie-break, and as a result, Gauff was a step ahead and won the tie-break 7-4.
In the second set, Zheng Qinwen took the lead in serving, and may have been affected by the loss of the tie-break, and his morale was a little low, and he was broken when he came up. After that, he was broken, twice in the fifth and seventh games, and lost 1-6. This also shows that Zheng Qinwen couldn't stand it at the critical moment and dropped the chain. Just played a good game. In the face of the world's top three top players, she is still a little tender, which fully shows that even if Zheng Qinwen is in good shape, she is sorry for the title of Australian Open runner-up, which is indeed a parallel import.
One joy and one sorrow. Zhang Zhizhen is expected to beat Tabilo in the quarterfinals, but Zheng Qinwen has already stopped in the top 8. Gauff will face world No. 1 Swiatek. It seems that China's top male and female players must continue to work hard to improve their technical and tactical level, as well as their psychological quality, in order to go further. [Text/Fighting Jianghu]