By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday April 28, 2023
Zhang Zhizhen edged Cameron Norrie in three sets for his biggest career win and a milestone for Chinese men.
Photo Source: TTV
After years – no, make that decades – of playing second fiddle to the women, the Chinese men are starting to make some noise on the ATP Tour. It doesn’t mean they’ll surpass the women anytime soon, but the achievements of Zhang Zhizhen, Wu Yibing and Jerry Shang have been notable in 2023.
On Monday in Madrid, the Chinese men got their latest pop.
Zhang defeated Cameron Norrie, 2-6 7-6(2) 7-6(2), to become the first Chinese man to ever reach the round of 16 at a Masters 1000 event.
Zhang’s achievement comes just over two months after Wu became the first Chinese player to win an ATP title at Dallas. Wu, currently ranked 57, became the highest-ranked Chinese male in history when he rose to No.55 on April 10th this year.
Last summer, Wu became the first chinese man to win a match at a Grand Slam in Open Era history. In January, Shang became the first Chinese man to win a main draw match at a Slam.
Zhang is 0-3 at the majors, and lost to Tim Van Rijthoven in five sets at the US Open last year. He then lost to eventual quarterfinalist Ben Shelton in five sets in the first round at this year's Australian Open.
Zhang is up to No.89 in the live rankings – which would be a career-high for him. If he defeats Taylor Fritz in the round of 16 he will crack the Top 70.
"Before the match I didn't even think I was going to be here in the second week of Madrid," said Zhang, who defeated Denis Shapovalov in the second round at Madrid. "Now I made it.
The 26-year–old has come through his wins over Shapovalov and Norrie in third-set tiebreaks.
"This is a big victory because it was an amazing match,” he said. “The first set was tough, I was down 6-2 but I still didn't give up. And then I won two tie-breaks, that's amazing.”