On January 1, Beijing time, in the first round of the men's singles of the 15 Australian Open, Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen defeated Argentine player Coria 2024-6, 4-7 (6), 3-7 (6) to win the first men's singles main draw of his career Australian Open.
In this year's Australian Open men's singles draw, Zhang Zhizhen and the wild card teenager Shang Juncheng entered the main event. There was also a men's tennis player, Buyun Chaokert, who competed in this year's Australian Open qualifiers, but failed to advance to the main draw.
At the 2023 Australian Open, Zhang Zhizhen became the first Chinese mainland male player to directly enter the main draw of the Australian Open through rankings since the Open era, but in the first round of the men's singles, Zhang Zhizhen missed a match point and finally lost to American player Shelton in the deciding set. Competing in the main draw of the Australian Open for the second year in a row, Zhang will face Argentina's Coria at world number 85 in the first round this year, and the two have never faced each other before. In fact, Zhang Zhizhen, who played on the second match day, was under a lot of pressure, and on the previous match day, Bai Zhuoxuan and Wang Xinyu both went out in the women's singles. As the only Chinese player on the court that day, Zhang Zhizhen attracted a large number of Chinese spectators, and he also lived up to expectations to win the match amid the cheers and shouts of the crowd, becoming the first Chinese player to win the Australian Open.
In the first set, Zhang Zhizhen grasped two of the four break points and took the next set. In the second set, Zhang Zhizhen broke serve in the opponent's service game and dragged the match into a tie-break to win the second set. In the third set, the two sides exchanged serves, and Zhang Zhizhen served well in the tie-break game, and finally defeated his opponent and advanced to the second round. Time has passed, and Zhang Zhizhen has already broken through the demons of the five-disc battle.
The 2023 season was very rewarding, and in July, his ranking rose to 7nd, the highest ranking in the history of Chinese mainland tennis men's singles players. In September, Zhang Zhizhen won the men's singles gold medal in the Asian Games for the Chinese team after 52 years. At the start of the 9 season, Zhang Zhizhen is in good shape, he and Zheng Qinwen jointly led the Chinese team to the quarterfinals of the 29 United Cup, and now he has finally won the first victory in the Australian Open men's singles main draw.
In the post-match press conference, Zhang Zhizhen also talked about how long he had been waiting for his first Australian Open victory: "I've been waiting for four years. I missed a match point last year, I prepared well this year and to be honest I've been waiting for this win for a long time. ”
Reviewing the game, Zhang Zhizhen said: "Actually, it was a bit unexpected, I thought I was going to lose the second set, but I won." I thought I was going to lose the third set, but I won again. Zhang Zhizhen made a special mention of the support of the Chinese fans at the scene: "The tie-break in the second set was in the atmosphere. At that time, I saved the service game to win the set, and after the cheers on the scene, it gave me a lot of help and suppressed the opponent's momentum. ”
Zhang Zhizhen also said that he is more confident this year: "My situation this year is much better than last year. It feels good to finish the United Cup. Over the past year, I've been competing against high-level players, and I'm more aware of my level. Last year, I went straight to the main draw for the first time, and I felt that everyone was better than me, so this year will be much better. ”
Zhang also competed in the Men's Doubles at this year's Australian Open, where he will partner with the Czech Republic's Makhac to face Belgium's Giller/Fregen in the first round of the Men's Doubles.
In the second round of the men's singles, Zhang Zhizhen will face the No. 21 seed Amber of France.
Yangcheng Evening News reporter Long Xi