Rare pair serves up some positivity

While China's top female players continue to make major strides globally, their male counterparts rarely even muster baby steps.

That's why victories for local underdogs Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Di in the first round of this week's Zhuhai Championships offered fresh hope that the nation's men might finally be making some progress on court.

A wild-card entry at the ATP 250 tournament, the 224th-ranked Zhang stunned this year's US Open last-16 player Dominik Koepfer of Germany (No 85) in straight sets on Tuesday, a day after veteran world No 338 Wu Di ousted Japan's Tatsuma Ito (No 141) in three sets at Hengqin Tennis Center.