China's Shang makes history at Australian Open, Zheng cruises through 1st round with ease

MELBOURNE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's 17-year-old qualifier Shang Juncheng on Monday stunned world No. 74 Oscar Otte of Germany 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5, becoming the first Chinese mainland men's singles player to reach the second round of the Australian Open main draw in the Open Era (since 1968), while the 29th-seeded Zheng Qinwen sprinted to a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Hungary's Dalma Galfi.

The two-hour and 57-minute rubber saw world No. 194 Shang break Otte's serve and rise to a 3-2 lead in each of the first two sets. Though Otte clawed back in the third set by emerging victorious 7-2 in the tiebreaker, Shang held his nerves in the fourth set en route to the win.

"I think overall this whole week was different for me, playing my first slam, every day I was pretty nervous getting on the court. But at the same time, it's one of the best moments I have had so far in my career. I'm just very excited to be on court, and everything is a learning process for me," Shang said.

Looking up to the Big Three - Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic - as inspirations, the 17-year-old Shang remained down-to-earth for his 2023 tennis season.

"I don't aim high for the new season, as I just turned professional last year and from this year, I can compete in major events like the Grand Slams. For me, every match, every set, and every point is a learning process," said the 17-year-old.

Shang will meet the sixth-seeded Frances Tiafoe of the United States in the second round. The two players never went head-to-head on court, but Shang said that they had training together and are familiar with each other.

"He's really good and he's gonna be really good for a long time. I'm excited to play against him," world No. 17 Tiafoe told reporters, after clinching his 6-3, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6) opener win over Germany's Daniel Altmaier.

Playing on the adjacent court to Shang's, China's wildcard Wu Yibing was knocked out by world No. 62 Corentin Moutet of France in a grinding four-hour, 15-minute five-setter. The 12th game of the fifth set was held at deuce twice with Moutet earning the advantage and locking up his 6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Wu.

"I didn't play my best tennis today, but I grit my teeth and stuck to the last minute," Wu told Xinhua. "I had some bad luck during the match and made several errors, but my tactics proved solid."

In women's singles, three Chinese players, including Zheng Qinwen, Zhu Lin and Wang Xinyu, progressed to the next round, while world No. 117 Yuan Yue suffered an early exit after losing 6-1, 6-4 to sixth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece.

Back to the 2022 Australian Open, Sakkari staged a same 6-1, 6-4 blow to the then 19-year-old new face Zheng in their second-round encounter.

This year, the world No. 28 Zheng returned to Melbourne Park with a flying start, as she took down world No. 88 Dalma Galfi of Hungry 6-0, 6-2 in a 57-minute blitz.

"I am more experienced than last year, and I felt quite well recently with hard training. So today's quick win is built up little by little and not surprising. I hope I could still keep such good form in the following games," said Zheng.

In a one-hour, seven-minute clash with Rebecca Marino of Canada, world No. 87 Zhu defeated her high-ranked opponent 6-2, 6-4. Zhu now leads 2-1 in their head-to-head series.

Last Friday, the 21-year-old Wang Xinyu finished her Hobart International in the quarterfinals as a warm-up to the Grand Slam. Days later, Wang walked onto the court again and beat Australian wildcard Storm Hunter 7-6 (2), 6-4.

When Wang charged to a 4-2 lead in the second set, a sudden blackout sent the match to a halt but that didn't stop Wang from taking her next step up.

"The blackout wasn't a big deal to me," Wang said. "My coach told me to just wait, because we had already spent a whole day waiting for the moment to play on court. He believes the best thing we can do is to wait."

After the short break, Wang wrapped up her straight-set victory in less than 20 minutes. Wang and Madison Keys of the United States will square off in the second round, while the latter is the tournament's tenth seed and currently ranked world No. 13.