Wu Rides Winning Wave Into First Final

Success is coming sooner than Wu Yibang expected. The 17-year-old Chinese prospect only won the US Open junior singles and doubles titles less than two weeks ago in New York.

Now he stands one match away from landing his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title on home soil in Shanghai. Top seed, Chinese Taipei’s Yen-Hsun Lu, is his final hurdle.

And Wu realises how great a hurdle that is, with Lu’s 28-title haul making him all-time Challenger leader. Lu holds a 20-3 record in Challenger finals since 2008.

“I played him last month in the Chengdu semi-finals, lost to him in the final set,” Wu said. “I know he is better than me, especially from the baseline but in that match, my serve and return were performing really well. I will get my mind prepared for the final, focus on my game. If he thinks he needs to change thing against me, maybe that will be my chance.”

As the youngest Asian-born Challenger finalist since Kei Nishikori in 2007 (Carson, USA), Wu is already wary of expectations mounting. This week he took down second-seeded Canadian Peter Polansky and Japan’s No. 5 seed Hiroki Moriya en route to the semi-finals where he defeated experienced German Matthias Bachinger 7-5, 7-5 for a place in the final.

“I am more focused on tennis now. That’s why I am playing better than before,” he said. “I also can feel the support from all the fans, lots of them come here to cheer for me. 

“That gave me extra strength to do better. To be honest, this is the toughest day for me since I got back to China [from the United States]. I am still fighting the jet leg, can barely sleep at night, but luckily it didn’t affect my matches.”

Win or lose Sunday’s final, Wu is set to make his ATP World Tour debut at next week’s Chengdu Open. And as the best-finishing Chinese player in the Shanghai Challenger he has earned a wild card into the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

“I am very excited to play in Chengdu,” he said. “That will be my first ATP World Tour main draw match, but right now I will focus on [the] final.”