The show that belongs to Zhang Zhizhen has just begun!, Winning two five game battles, entering the first round and breaking the "heart demon" individual in the third round | US Open | Great Play
Early this morning Beijing time, two Chinese players surprised fans: in the second round of the US Open women's singles, Zhu Lin defeated the 18th seed and former world number one Azarenka 6-3, avenging her 16-8 defeat in this year's Australian Open women's singles, and also breaking her personal best record in the US Open women's singles; In the second round of the US Open men's singles held this morning, Zhang Zhizhen defeated the 5th seed of the men's singles tournament and last year's US Open runner up Rudd, breaking his personal best record in US Open singles while also avenging his defeat to his opponent in the French Open this year. In addition, Wang Xinyu also won the victory and teamed up with Zhu Lin to reach the top 32 in women's singles for the first time.
"China's top player" Zhang Zhizhen staged a five set battle in the first round, taking about 4 and a half hours. He defeated local player Wolf 3-2 with a big score, achieving his first victory in the US Open and achieving a significant breakthrough.
In the second round, Zhang Zhizhen faced Rude. Rudd is the 5th seed of the competition and also the runner up of last year's competition. In the third round of this year's French Open, Zhang Zhizhen was eliminated after losing to Rude in four sets, despite being in the next set first. Now in the second round of the US Open, the two are reuniting on the hard court. Zhang Zhizhen exerted his serve power on the hard court where he was better at, holding the active rhythm in his hands.
In the end, he defeated his strong opponent Rudd 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 0-6, 6-2, and the game lasted for 3 hours and 19 minutes. In this game, Zhang Zhizhen handled the serving and receiving stages very well. Especially in serving, he scored 18 ACEs throughout the game, 11 more than Rudd. In addition, in terms of technical statistics such as first serve scoring rate, first serve scoring rate, and second serve scoring rate, Zhang Zhizhen also outperformed his opponents, making him more adept at bottom line battles. He scored 60 winning points throughout the game, 21 more than Rudd. In the decisive set, Zhang Zhizhen served to win the game. With ACE, he obtained the match point and then made a wide-angle maneuver, easily intercepting in front of the net to win the game.
Just last year, Zhang Zhizhen participated in numerous challenge competitions and qualified for the US Open qualifiers. This year, Zhang Zhizhen has been able to make it to the top 32 in the US Open main tournament, making significant progress. Zhang Zhizhen also became the first male player from Chinese Mainland to defeat the world's top ten players in the Grand Slam.
Also last year, Zhang Zhizhen lost in a five set battle and became his "demon" - in the first round of the 2022 US Open, Zhang Zhizhen faced Dutch player Lewandowski. With a two set lead, he squandered 7 match points in the third set, but ultimately suffered a disastrous comeback and missed the chance to advance.
Although he once said after the game, "This defeat won't be a big setback for me, because losing is a normal thing. In other words, this is not my first time losing, nor will it be my last time playing a Grand Slam match." As of Wimbledon in July this year, Zhang Zhizhen has been reversed and eliminated four times in the first round of a Grand Slam match until the fifth set. The Five Plate Curse has become a huge obstacle for Zhang Zhizhen to achieve career breakthroughs.
But obviously, this curse was broken in the Flushing of 2023: Zhang Zhizhen won 3-2 in two consecutive rounds, and the transformed Zhang Zhizhen had a big heart. When the five game battle came before him again, he was no longer afraid.
In the post match interview, Zhang Zhizhen looked back on the progress of himself and Chinese players over the past two years and was deeply moved. "Two years ago, due to the impact of the epidemic, participating in competitions and traveling became very difficult. Everyone was persevering, but we didn't expect to achieve such a breakthrough now." Zhang Zhizhen said, "Now that the Chinese men's tennis team has won a tour championship, we have reached the top 32 in the Grand Slam. Now in China, we have received more attention, and there are more children playing tennis. We need to make tennis more popular."
