On May 15, Beijing time, the Rome tennis tournament continued, and the Chinese army was happy and worried. Zhang Zhizhen swept the qualifier Monteiro 2-0 in the 1/8 finals and reached the top 8 of the Rome Masters for the first time in his career. However, in the women's singles 1/4 finals that ended thereafter, China's first sister Zheng Qinwen lost 0-2 to the world's No. 3 Gauff and missed the first 1000 round of the top 4. At 21 o'clock on the evening of the 15th, Zhang Zhizhen will face the No. 29 seed Tabilo on the center court, and he will make history.
Zhang Zhizhen played well at this Rome Masters, easily beating Gran and Kotov in the first two rounds. Facing the No. 12 seed Shelton in the third round, Zhang Zhizhen also won in straight sets. Originally, Zhang Zhizhen faced Ruud in the 1/8 finals, but the latter was out early. In this battle, facing Monteiro, who is only ranked 106th in the world, Zhang Zhizhen played with ease. In the first game, Zhang Zhizhen forced a break point but failed to grasp it. After that, the two sides fought all the way to the tie-break, and Zhang Zhizhen won 7-4 after 4 draws in the tie-break. In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen completed a key break in the 6th game and maintained the advantage, winning another set 6-3 and winning 2-0 to advance.
After winning this game, Zhang's instant ranking has reached 42nd, and he is expected to break his career ranking record in the new week. In the next match, Zhang Zhizhen will face No. 29 seed Tabilo. The 82nd-ranked athlete at the start of the year has already knocked out Novak Djokovic and Khachanov in quick succession. Although his opponent's form is excellent, there is no doubt that it is an opportunity for Zhang. If he wins, Zhang Zhizhen will become the first Chinese men's tennis player to reach the semi-finals of the Masters.
In the women's singles, Zheng Qinwen lost 0-2 (6-7 1-6) to American Gauff. Zheng Qinwen once resolved his opponent's serve to win the set in the first set, but unfortunately lost 4-7 in the tie-break. In the second set, Zheng Qinwen's state plummeted, and he finally lost 0-2. Zheng Qinwen couldn't make a breakthrough, but with his performance in Rome, he retained his qualification as the top 8 seed in the French Open and avoided encountering a high-ranked player too early.