On the evening of May 14, Beijing time, in the just-concluded fourth round of the Rome Masters, China's first brother Zhang Zhizhen continued to play perfectly, defeating Brazil's Monteiro in straight sets 7-6 (4), 6-3, and advancing to the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters. Zhang Zhizhen's good form before the French Open has made the outside world look forward to his French Open journey.
Zhang's overall performance in the first half of this year did not fully meet expectations. The results of the last stop in Madrid were miserable, and the results were far worse than last year's quarterfinals. However, the east is not bright and the west is bright, and the outstanding performance in Rome this time can well alleviate the pressure of Zhang Zhizhen's point retention.
Zhang Zhizhen's opponent in this round is Brazil's Monteiro, although he is only ranked 106th in the world, he is definitely a clay master. In Madrid, they defeated Tsitsipas in straight sets and finally went on to the round of 32. The tournament has won five consecutive matches since qualifying, and eliminated Monfils, Thompson and Kacmanovic in the main round. Zhang Zhizhen defeated Garland, Mannarino and Shelton respectively. It was also the first meeting between the two sides in their careers.
In the first set, Monteiro served first. In the first service game, the two sides fought fiercely, Zhang Zhizhen wasted three break points, and his opponent successfully held serve, and the first game took 8 minutes. In the second game, Zhang Zhizhen's first service game, relying on a good serve and return, scored 4 points in a row, and the love game easily held serve, 1-1. In the third game, Monteiro returned a love game and went into the break 2-1.
In the fourth game, Zhang Zhizhen seemed a little impatient, and even made a double fault, falling behind 0-30. But after that, Zhang Zhizhen relied on a strong serve, scored 4 points in a row, and successfully held serve. 2-2。 In the fifth game, the competition between the two sides became more intense, Monteiro used spin to slow down the ball, Zhang Zhizhen relied on the net to maneuver with him, although he got a break point, but finally Monteiro successfully held serve, 3-2. In the sixth game, Zhang Zhizhen relied on a strong second serve and easily held serve, 3-3. In the seventh game, Monteiro continued to hold serve strongly and entered the break 4-3.
In the eighth game, Zhang Zhizhen's first-serve goal rate decreased, his own mistakes increased, and he faced two break points at 15-40, but then Zhang Zhizhen relied on a strong serve, scored 4 points in a row, and successfully held serve. 4-4。 In the ninth game, Monteiro held serve again, 5-4. In the tenth game, Zhang Zhizhen had to protect the serve, withstood the pressure, and successfully held the serve, 5-5. In the eleventh game, Monteiro served strongly and scored 4 points in a row, 6-5.
In the twelfth game, Zhang Zhizhen was not willing to lag behind and easily held serve. 6-6 into the tie-break. In the tie-break battle, Zhang Zhizhen played more perfectly, winning 7-4. Thus taking a 7-6 lead in the next city. The first set between the two sides was very exciting, and it can be described as a needle-to-needle match. Zhang Zhizhen's skills are comprehensive, and his serve and hair return are impeccable. Monteiro has a solid baseline and a top-notch defense.
In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen took the lead in serving, holding serve in the first two games, and in the third game, Zhang Zhizhen faced two break points and resolved them one by one, successfully holding serve and leading 2-1.
In the fourth and fifth games, both sides easily held serve in their respective service games, 3-2. In the sixth game, Zhang Zhizhen got three break points 40-0, and the first one was successfully cashed in, achieving the first break, 4-2.
In the seventh game, Zhang Zhizhen successfully held serve, 5-2. In the eighth game, Monteiro had to hold the serve and scored 4 points in a row to hold serve. 5-3。 In the ninth game, Zhang Zhizhen won the game with a serve, won three match points 40-0, withstood the pressure, and cashed in on the third match point. Won the game 6-3.
Congratulations to Zhizhen Zhang for reaching the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters! Today's Zhang Zhizhen played fantastic, he can do anything. This is Zhang Zhizhen's second career Masters quarterfinals after last year's Madrid Masters, and the world ranking will return to the top 50. Zhang's opponent in the next round is Chile's Tabilo, the No. 29 seed in the tournament. Tabilo continued his good form in beating Djokovic in the previous round, and in the fourth round, he faced 16th seed Khachanov and saved two set points in the second set to win 7-6(5), 7-6(10) to reach the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters.
Whether Zhang Zhizhen can defeat Tabilo and create the first semi-finals of his career 1000 tournament, let's wait and see! Zhang Zhizhen, come on!