Wu Yibing became the first Chinese player to reach an ATP tournament final after his semi-final win in Dallas on Saturday over No.1 seeded American Taylor Fritz (6-7, 7-5, 6-4). After his victories over Shapovalov, seeded N.3 and Mannarino, seeded N.8, Wu, 97th player in the world, will try Sunday to continue a dream week, facing in the final another American, John Isner, for the title.
For this, the 23-year-old Chinese will have to keep a cool head and leave history aside as he did in the half against Fritz. “When I played today, I didn’t focus on scoring or winning. I just tried to do my best“, he said during his on-court interview after finishing the match on two of his 34 winning shots.
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Yibing Wu
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Highest ranked Chinese in history
Defeated in a 58-minute marathon first set, Wu had to erase five break points in the fourth game of the second set, fight to hold his serve at 5-4, break Fritz at 5-5 to finally win the set on his faceoff. Less suspense in the third set during which Wu seized his opponent’s serve in the fifth game to earn the first victory of his career against a player in the World Top 10.
Thanks to his career in Dallas, Wu should also become the highest ranked Chinese in ATP history by far surpassing Zhang Zhizhen, current 91st in the world. In the final, he will therefore face Isner, qualified for his 31st ATP final thanks to his serve and a victory (3-6, 7-5, 7-6) over his compatriot JJ Wolf.
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