Bad day as all Chinese wildcards exit Masters
Print Edition
NONE of the three Chinese wildcards survived the first round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters yesterday, though local boy Wu Di’s promising performance against Marin Cilic gave fans at the Qizhong Tennis Center something to cheer.
Cilic won the last match of the day 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4). However, the 14th seed was not in his elements earlier, allowing Wu to break him twice for a 4-2 advantage in the first set. Wu then held serve to claim the set on his second set point.
The Croatian found some pace back in the second set, making use of his powerful first serve. He broke Wu in the sixth game, which was enough.
Wu appeared relaxed coming into the deciding set, firing his only ace of the match in the first game. Cilic broke Wu in the fifth, but was broken back in the eighth to see the set tied at 4-4. Wu won the next game and had a match point on Cilic’s service game, but the latter fired two aces to tie the set at 5-5. With the duo holding serve, the match went into a tiebreak, which Cilic won to eliminate the last local hope.
Cilic, who fired 15 aces, will take on 18-year-old compatriot Borna Coric next.
Wu gave almost full play to his skills, although the gap between the two players remains considerable. The 24-year-old Shanghai native is some 23 centimeters shorter than the 198-cm Cilic, a for US Open champ whose world ranking is 12 compared to Wu’s 227.
Another Chinese player Bai Yan lost 0-6, 1-6 to Argentine veteran Leonardo Mayer while Bai’s Nanjing pal Zhang Ze fell to Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-7 (8), 2-6 on center court.
As China’s top-ranked male player, Zhang pleaded for more support from sponsors at the post-match press conference.
“What I need most is money,” said the 25-year-old. “I am only training with one foreign coach, and getting no help from others, not to mention masseur or physio. The Jiangsu tennis team pays his wages, and I cover his expenses to go to matches with me. I think my ranking is an obstacle. I need to raise it to attract more sponsors.”
Zhang is currently 182 in the ATP world rankings. He is being coached by former Algerian-French player Tarik Benhabiles. His highest ATP ranking was 148 in May 2013. Zhang has never won a singles match in Shanghai, though he partnered Roger Federer in doubles last year and advanced to the second round.
Zhang, who said he still dreams of becoming the first Chinese male player to crack the ATP top-100, will partner compatriot Gong Maoxin in doubles this year. Their first-round opponents are Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
Klizan’s reward for beating Zhang, meanwhile, is a clash with No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
In other matches, John Isner of the United States beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-2; Spain’s Feliciano Lopez overcame Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (3), while his compatriot Tommy Robredo lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 7-6 (5), 2-6, 2-6.
There were also victories for Cilic’s compatriot Ivo Karlovic and Australian bad boy Nick Kyrgios, who next takes on Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
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