Zhang Zhizhen of the Rome Masters ranked in the top 16 for the first time and defeated the top 15 for the fifth time

In the early morning of May 13, Beijing time, in the third round of men's singles of 2024ATP1000 Rome Masters, Chinese player Zhang Zhizhen defeated No. 12 seed Sheldon 2-0 to advance to the top 16, and his real-time ranking has risen to No. 51 in the world. In the next round, his opponent is Monteiro, a Brazilian qualifier.

At the Rome Masters, Zhang Zhizhen first defeated Garland 6-2/7-5 in the first round of the race, successfully revenged and ended three consecutive defeats; In the second round, he swept the 19th seed Manarino 6-1/6-3 to advance to the last 32.

In the third round, Zhang Zhizhen's opponent was No. 12 seed Sheldon. The two sides fought in five sets at the 2023 Australian Open, and Zhang Zhizhen was regretful to lose.

In this game, the Chinese player performed well. After breaking the serve twice in the first and seventh innings, he played 6-2 first in the first set. In the second set, he continued to maintain his status and broke the serve again. Although he wasted match points in the ninth inning, he still won the serve in the tenth inning, winning another set 6-4. The whole game took 71 minutes.

This is the first time that Zhang Zhizhen has entered the top 16 of the Rome Masters, and also the third time that he has entered the top 16 of the Masters after Madrid and Shanghai in his career. At the same time, it is the fifth time that Zhang Zhizhen has defeated the top 15 players in his career.

In an interview after the game, Zhang Zhizhen said: "I also felt that I played very well, and you have to say that the one serve goal rate was a little low. But today, even if there was no one serve, the bottom line hit was very stable. The bottom line really took a great advantage, and there were many mistakes on the opposite side."

(Qingling)