Chinese men serve notice

From admirers to challengers and now legitimate contenders, China's surging men's tennis players have backed up their collective progress by keeping an international cast of elite opponents at bay across this season's "China Swing".

The long-anticipated rise of Chinese men's tennis appears to be happening for real and has forced some of the world's best players to take notice, underlined by a string of gutsy battles by local talent that has put top-ranked stars through the wringer at recent ATP Tour events held in China.

The ongoing Rolex Shanghai Masters has served up the latest proof that the depth of Chinese men's tennis is growing, after Wu Yibing, Buyunchaokete and Zhou Yi all advanced into the second round at the top-tier ATP 1000 tournament, marking the first time in event history that three home players had passed the first round together.

As the youngest among the trio, wildcard Zhou has made it the farthest by stunning Italy's former world No 5 Lorenzo Musetti, the 24th seed in Shanghai, in a three-set thriller on Friday to march into the third round at an ATP tournament of any level for the first time in his career.

The 21-year-old, who's currently ranked 277th, then went on to put up another brave fight against Poland's Hubert Hurkacz in the round of 32 on Sunday, making the tournament's 2023 champion work hard for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win.

Zhou's crowd-pleasing victory over the 25th-ranked Musetti, having upset another higher-ranked Italian in Mattia Bellucci in their opener, made him the fourth homegrown player in history to reach the round of 32 in Shanghai, after former world No 31 Zhang Zhizhen's fourth round finish in 2023 and matching Wu and Shang Juncheng's feat in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The hard-hitting Zhou, who started playing tennis at the age of 10 after first trying his hand at badminton, took pride from his Shanghai breakout.

"Hearing them chant my name so loudly, I felt like I was (Novak) Djokovic," an emotional Zhou said of the rousing crowd reaction on the stadium court of the Qizhong Tennis Center following his 7-6 (7), 3-6, 7-6(1) win against Musetti.

"I've prepared long and hard for this moment. I knew I would have my moment, and it all paid off," said Zhou, who enjoys rewatching the Harry Potter movies in his spare time, and names Spider Man as his favorite superhero.

Though it is his on-court heroics, and those of his peers, during their home swing over the past three weeks that have left real-life giants of the game reeling.

Among them, former US Open boys' champion Wu came the closest to a giant killing, having pushed major champion-caliber opponents to their limits in three narrow defeats this year: Alexander Zverev in Shanghai, Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open and Djokovic at Wimbledon.

An aggressive ace known for his blistering attack and variety, the 26-year-old Wu, who won China's first major junior title in New York in 2017, forced German top seed Zverev to dig deep before he ultimately advanced with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win in Shanghai on Friday.

It brought back fond memories of Wu's equally impressive battle against Alcaraz at the 2024 tournament's third round, where he made the Spanish seven-time major winner labor hard during two tightly-contested sets before squeezing through.

Alcaraz described Wu as a "way stronger" player than his ranking might suggest last month after outplaying the Hangzhou native in the third round at the US Open, reiterating his takeaway from their 2024 meeting.

Despite missing out on another shot to stun a red-hot major champion, Wu pumped himself up with a confidence boost by rattling the soon-to-be world No 1 Zverev.

"Of course," Wu said when asked if the match against Zverev proved he belongs to the elite group.

"I've had multiple chances to play the best players in the world this year, and I think I showed myself, and also the world, that I can play great tennis.

"So, I'm confident in myself, and I think I just have to keep digging, stay patient and stay healthy and try to play as many tournaments as possible. Also, I need to be smart with the schedule, and I think my time will come," said Wu, who won China's first ATP singles title in Dallas, Texas, in February 2023.

Wu's season highlights also include a straight-sets, third-round win over former world No 2 Casper Ruud of Denmark en route to the quarterfinals at an ATP 500 event in Mexico in February.

China's current top ace Buyunchaokete has also stood out as an underdog that punches above his weight on home soil.

The world No 93 gave 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic a scare by taking a set from their second-round match at the China Open, forcing the Serbian great to bring out his A-game before crawling his way through after three sets.

The pressure from his 24-year-old opponent later proved to be a much-needed push for Djokovic to keep his foot on gas and eventually lift his first title this year at the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing.

"He's a great player, with great quality. Big fighter. Physically seems very fit," Djokovic said of his opponent, who hails from China's Mongolian ethnic group.

Citing the increasing number of Tour-level tournaments in China and the improving results of the country's young talents, Djokovic remains bullish on their future.

"It's good to see the up-and-coming men's tennis players from China doing well," said the 39-year-old, who bowed out in the first round in Shanghai after losing to Hurkacz.

"I think it's important for a country like China, which has really invested a lot in tennis over the past few decades, that there are multiple quality players, both men and women, competing at the highest level."