China’s Wu Sets Date With Nishikori After Maiden ATP Win In Shanghai

Yibing Wu, China’s top young male player, won his first ATP World Tour match on Monday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The 18-year-old beat countryman and fellow wild card Zhe Li 7-6(5), 6-2 at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

“I am very happy to win my first match in ATP World Tour. This is definitely my best performance in the past couple months,” Wu said. “Li Zhe was playing well from the beginning, putting me in very stressful situations. But I still managed to turn this around. So I am very pleased about it.”

The 2017 US Open junior boys’ champion had been 0-5 in ATP World Tour matches, including recent back-to-back losses at the Chengdu Open in Chengdu and the China Open in Beijing. He will next meet eighth seed Kei Nishikori, Asia’s biggest male tennis star, who reached the final of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2018 on Sunday (l. to Medvedev).

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“I am very excited to have a chance to play Nishikori next round,” Wu said. “[Playing] against a top player like Kei is something I always look forward to. As a younger player, I have nothing to lose. Just hoping that I can bring out my best to this match.”