Wu Yibing becomes first Chinese man to reach the US Open third round since 1881, making a run to the fourth round
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
Wu Yibing reached the third round of the US Open for the first time, becoming the first Chinese man in US Open history to do so since 1881.
The 32-year-old from Fujian joined the likes of Lleyton Hewitt, Milos Raonic and Jack Sock in the fourth round on Saturday, coming from behind to beat Jeeb Pongchan 7-6 (1-7) 6-3 6-3.
He is the first player from China to reach the US Open third round since 1982. It is the latest development in the growing Chinese presence at the sport’s biggest club tournament.
Wu, who previously reached the second round in 2017, was making his first visit to North America and is already a three-time winner.
China, the top male tennis nation in the world, has been trying to break into the lucrative US Open series for the past two years, but with the sport dominated by the Americans, it has been a tough task.
The last Chinese man to win the US Open was Lleyton Hewitt in 1997, but the sport has not had another Chinese man win a major title since Wang Hao in 1977.
China, with a population of 1.37 billion, will compete to host the tournament for the first time in 20 years in 2022.
Rising stars: Lleyton Hewitt and Wu Yibing will meet for the first time in the third round of the US Open Photograph: Stuart Franklin/PA
The growing Chinese presence in tennis will be especially good news for the men’s game, which has seen increasing numbers of players from the nation rise through the ranks.
Liu Zhongyu, Wang Zhengming and Lu Yen-hsun are among a long list of Chinese players to have reached the top 10 in the world and China’s Davis Cup team are preparing for a match against Canada for the first time since 1990.
At the US Open, Yibing was also in contention to replace injured compatriot Zheng Bo, but lost in the opening round.
Wu was making his first tournament visit