NEW YORK (AFP) — Wu Yibing on Monday became the first Chinese man in 63 years to win a singles match at a Grand Slam when he knocked 31st seed Nikoloz Basilashvili out of the US Open
Wu, 22, triumphed 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in the opening round, firing nine aces in his 31 winners past his Georgian opponent.
Mei Fu Chi, at Wimbledon in 1959, was the last Chinese man to win a match at the majors.
Wu, ranked No. 174 and who came through qualifying, is also the first Chinese man to win a US Open singles match since Cheng Guy in 1935.
“It’s happy and exciting but still more matches to come,” Wu told atptour.com.
“The third set, I don’t know if he was hurting or something, I just tried to make all the balls and tried to stay in the game, not thinking about winning or losing.”
“That’s why I guess I didn’t show much emotions. I feel pretty calm.”
Wu was the 2017 junior champion in New York but his professional career has been dogged by injuries and he was sidelined completely from March 2019 until January 2022.
He was ranked a lowly 1,869 in March but has now won 14 successive matches.
Wu next faces Portuguese qualifier Nuno Borges who defeated US wildcard Ben Shelton 7-6(8/6), 3-6, 7-6 (5/7), 6-7 (8/10), 6-3.
Zhang Zhizhen squandered a golden opportunity to join Wu in the next round when he saw seven match points slip away in a five-set loss to Tim van Rijthoven of the Netherlands.
