NEW YORK (Reuters) – Zhang Zhizhen became the first Chinese man to beat a top-five opponent since the ATP rankings were introduced in 1973 by stunning last year’s runner-up Casper Ruud 6-4 5-7 6-2 0-6 6-2 in the U.S. Open second round on Wednesday.
Zhang, ranked 67th in the world, had come through another five-setter to beat American J.J Wolf in his opener and showed similar resolve against world number five Ruud en route to securing the biggest victory of his career.
“Last year at the U.S. Open, I can say it was a bad memory. But this year is a little bit different,” said Zhang, who squandered seven match points in his 2022 opener before losing to Tim van Rijthoven in five sets.
The 26-year-old, who will play Australian Rinky Hijikata in the third round, has a number of tennis ‘firsts’ for China where the sport has largely been dominated by women in the modern era.
In May, he became the first man from his country to win a main draw match at the French Open in 86 years when his Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness.
After beating Argentine Agustin Tirante in the second round at Roland Garros he was then dumped out of the tournament by Ruud, so Wednesday’s victory comes as sweet revenge.
Last October, Zhang became the first Chinese man to break into the top 100 in the world rankings and he also became the first to reach the quarter-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament at the Madrid Open this year.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
