Rising star Wu stuns Kyrgios in Stuttgart

Wu Yibing produced a major upset in his first official professional match on grass — defeating last year's Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios 7-5, 6-3 at an ATP 250 event in Stuttgart, Germany.

Before Tuesday's first-round clash at the Boss Open, Wu had not played a competitive match on grass since he was a junior.

However, the rising Chinese star was far from overawed against the world No 25 to advance.

"The last time I played on grass was the juniors back in 2017, so six years (ago)," said the 23-year-old Wu, who in February became the first Chinese mainland player to lift an ATP Tour trophy by winning the Dallas Open.

"I was really happy to play Nick in the first round. He's one of the best players on grass and he served well. He aced me many times. The key for me was to stay cool, stay patient in the game and find a way."

Kyrgios had surgery to repair a small tear in his left lateral meniscus in January and appeared to be struggling physically from early in the match.

"Be patient with me my fans, please. It's a process to get back to where I was. I know it's hard for you to see me perform like today, but I need more time and hopefully can get back to where I was," he posted on Twitter after the defeat.

The Australian, who was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final last year, had last played a singles match in October in Tokyo and was a late withdrawal from the Australian Open in January.

He was forced to delay his comeback and missed the French Open due to a foot injury he sustained during the theft of his car last month.

Wu saved a break point in the opening game with a classy forehand on the run before breaking the big-serving Kyrgios in the 12th game to eventually claim the first set. As Kyrgios' movement became more restricted, Wu claimed the only break of the second set and held on to seal victory.

"It was pretty special because it was very tense, and he was holding his service games pretty easily," said Wu, whose impressive performances this year have catapulted him up the rankings to No 64. "I was suffering on serve sometimes because he has better serves than me, but I was patient in the match. I will keep going and work on my serve, and hopefully I can be a better server."

Wu's second-round opponent will be Marton Fucsovics after the Hungarian qualifier rallied past Denis Shapovalov of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

China's Zhang Zhizhen, who earlier this month reached the third round at Roland Garros, was outplayed by local favorite Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1, 6-4 in 57 minutes.

Xinhua / Agencies