Shang becomes second Chinese player to win an ATP title
Teenager Shang Juncheng has beaten Italy’s Olympic bronze medallist Lorenzo Musetti 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 in the Chengdu Open final to become the second Chinese player to win an ATP title.
It marks a first ATP Tour title for Shang, who is China’s No.2 and ranked 55 in the world. The 19-year-old former juniors No.1 is also the youngest ATP winner this season.
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 medallist Zheng Qinwen.
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-December, will feature the world’s top 20-and-under singles players from the ATP Tour season.
In the Hangzhou Open, Croat wildcard Marin Cilic became the lowest-ranked champion in ATP Tour history with success in his first tour level event since February.
Cilic, 36 on Saturday, won his first title since 2021 with a 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) win over China’s No.1 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 No.3 from 777th at the start of the tournament to 212 in the ATP rankings. It was the 21st title of Cilic’s career.
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