Wu stuns Fritz to become first Chinese ATP finalist of Open Era

Wu Yibing shocked top-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-7 (3/7), 7-5, 6-4 at the Dallas Open on Saturday to become the first Chinese man to reach an ATP final in the Open Era.

🚨 HISTORY MADE 🚨

Wu Yibing defeats Fritz 6-7(3) 7-5 6-4 to become the first Chinese player in the open era to reach an ATP Tour final! @DALOpenTennis | #DalOpen pic.twitter.com/MuN7SNak34

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 12, 2023

The 23-year-old Wu said that kind of history wasn’t on his mind against Fritz, nor was he even thinking ahead to a victory that lined up a title clash with fifth-seeded American John Isner.

“When I played today I wasn’t thinking about any score or winning. I just tried to perform my best,” he said in his on-court interview after closing out the match with two of his 34 winners.

"With the hair and makeup, there's always room to improve."

We're so here for all future Wu Yibing modelling jokes 🤣#DalOpen pic.twitter.com/j8zoAO9AhD

More on this topic:

Sinner breeze past Fritz to lift US Open title for the first time

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 12, 2023

Wu followed up victories over third-seeded Denis Shapovalov and eighth-seeded Adrian Mannarino, and was already just the second Chinese man to reach a tour-level semi-final in the Open Era, joining Pan Bing who made the last four in Seoul in 1995.

Wu, who reached a career-high 97 in the world rankings on Monday, is poised to become the highest-ranked Chinese player in the history of the world rankings, passing Zhang Zhizhen, who currently sits at 91st.

👏 Take 👏 a 👏 bow

Fifteen years since his first @atptour final, John Isner has now reached his 31st. #DALOpen | @JohnIsner pic.twitter.com/3oYsWRsdpL

— Dallas Open (@DALOpenTennis) February 11, 2023

On Sunday he’ll face an experienced opponent in Isner, who advanced to his 31st ATP final with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) victory over fellow American J.J. Wolf.