Sep 24, 2024, 09:54 AM ET
Teenager Shang Juncheng beat Italian Olympic bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (4), 6-1 in the Chengdu Open final Tuesday to become the second Chinese player to win an ATP title.
It is the first ATP Tour title for Shang, who is currently China’s No. 2 and ranked 55th in the world. The former juniors No. 1 is also the youngest ATP winner of the season at 19 years old.
Li Na remains China’s most successful singles player with Grand Slam wins at the French Open in 2011 and the Australian Open in 2014, while there are several women hoping to emulate her, including Paris Olympics gold medalist Qinwen Zheng.
But success on the men’s side has largely eluded the nation, and Wu Yibing became the first Chinese player to capture an ATP trophy when he won the Dallas Open last year.
Shang has also strengthened his push to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the first time. The competition, hosted in Saudi Arabia in November and December, will feature the world’s top 20-and-under singles players of the ATP Tour season.
In the Hangzhou Open, Croat wild card Marin Cilic became the lowest-ranked champion in ATP Tour history on Tuesday with success in his first tour level event since February.
Cilic, who turns 36 on Saturday, won his first title since 2021 with a 7-6(5) 7-6(5) win over China’s number one and sixth seed Zhang Zhizhen, who was playing his first tour level final.
The triumph for Cilic, who has been sidelined with a knee injury, lifted the former world number three from 777th at the start of the tournament to 212 in the ATP rankings.
It was the 21st title of Cilic’s career, with the Hangzhou Open having replaced the Zhuhai Championships on the calendar.
