In the professional era, no Chinese man had ever reached a tour-level final or defeated a top-10 opponent before this week.
In a thrilling final on Sunday, Wu Yibing defeated hometown hero John Isner 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 7-6(12) to win the Dallas Open, making him the first Chinese man to win an ATP title.
The breakthrough achieved by Wu, a 23-year-old Chinese tennis player, may serve as a model for future Chinese men’s tennis players.
In the professional era, no Chinese man had ever reached a tour-level final or defeated a top-10 opponent before this week.
Wu, who is from Hangzhou in the east and defeated American world number eight Taylor Fritz in the Dallas semi-finals, has accomplished both.
Wu declared during the presentation of the trophy, “I made history here for my country and for my home.”
We had to earn the right to make history against Isner, a seasoned tour professional with 16 titles and one of the game’s most feared serves.
Wu served to keep the second set at 6-5, but Isner hit 44 aces and held match point. Wu won the match in just under three hours after forcing Isner to push the ball long after 22 consecutive points went with serve in the final tiebreak.
Isner stated, “I don’t know how many match points I had, I’m sure it was a lot.”
Wu is now expected to reach 58, making him the second Chinese man to break into the world’s top 100 on Monday.
Wu showed promise as a junior, but he has had to be patient through a series of injuries that caused him to drop out of all tennis competitions in 2020 and 21.
Wu became the first Chinese man to reach the third round of a Grand Slam since 1938 after qualifying for the U.S. Open and winning two main draw matches despite being ranked outside the top 1,000 in April.
The retired Li Na became the first Chinese woman to win a Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros in 2011 and went on to win another major title at the Australian Open in 2014.
However, a new generation of men’s tennis players is beginning to make a name for themselves, including world number 92 Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng, an 18-year-old who became the first Chinese man to win a main draw match at the Australian Open last month.