Zhang Zhizhen became the first Chinese man to beat a top-five opponent since the introduction of the ATP rankings in 1973 by stunning last year's finalist Casper Ruud 6-4 5-7 6-2 0-6 6-2 in the U.S. Open second round on Wednesday.
Zhang, ranked 67th in the world, had come through another five-setter to beat American J.J Wolf in his opener and showed similar resolve against world number five Ruud en route to securing the biggest victory of his career.
"Last year at the U.S. Open, I can say it was a bad memory. This year is a little bit different," said Zhang, who squandered seven match points in his 2022 opener before losing to Tim van Rijthoven in five sets.
Zhang was blanked by Ruud in the fourth sets but said he never lost hope.
"I believed in myself. If not, the fifth set was going to be a different result," he told reporters. "I was a little bit tired for few days already. I had some sort of pain, whatever. I don't spend so much energy. I try to be calm for whole match.
"At the end of the match, finished the last point, I didn't really celebrate like, not super happy. But I was happy inside, it just didn't show."
The 26-year-old, who will play Australian Rinky Hijikata in the third round, has a number of tennis 'firsts' for China where the sport has largely been dominated by women in the modern era.
Dominic Stricker caused a major upset at the US Open by knocking out seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 21-year-old qualifier from Switzerland, ranked 128 in the world, stunned two-time grand slam finalist Tsitsipas with 7-5 6-7 (2-7) 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 victory to reach the third round.
Stricker is a former French Open junior champion and got the better of Tsitsipas after a four-hour slog on the Grandstand Court.
"You know, I came out today pretty well today and felt good from the first set," said Stricker.
"Over four hours it was a tough battle and I'm just super happy right now. I’m going to enjoy the rest of the day and recover tomorrow.
"It’s such a great day for me and such a great win. It gives me a lot of confidence. I believe a lot in me now."
Remarkably, Stricker could have been on the plane back to Bern last week having faced a match point in the second round of qualifying.
He has now achieved his best result at a grand slam event, having bettered his run to the second round at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Tsitsipas served for the match at 5-3 in the fourth set, and the Greek said: "That hasn’t happened to me before. It’s the first time for me.
"Usually I’m much tougher mentally, and I have shown it by coming back. Even though sometimes I get broken serving for the match, let’s say, I still find ways in the tie-break or perhaps in the fifth set. Today was not the case."
Second seed Novak Djokovic is safely through to round three after demolishing Spain’s Bernabe Zapata Miralles.
The Serbian, chasing a 24th grand slam title, dropped just six games in a 6-4 6-1 6-1 victory.
With additional reporting: Reuters
