entering the final of a tour tournament for the first time in his career, zhang zhizhen hopes to "play a game that he won't regret"
2024-09-24
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in the men's singles semi-finals of the hangzhou open held on september 23, zhang zhizhen defeated buyun chaoket 7-6, 6-4 and reached the atp tour final for the first time in his career. he also became the third chinese men's singles player to reach the tour final after wu yibing and shang juncheng.
"i never thought i would get this far when i came here. i thought it was just one game, but i didn't expect it would be the last game." after entering the finals, zhang zhizhen expressed his surprise at the press conference. last year, zhang zhizhen won the men's singles gold medal at the asian games. a year later, he entered the atp tour finals here for the first time, making hangzhou once again a "blessed place". he said: "the revolution is not over yet, we still have one more game. for the time being, i feel good about hangzhou, and hangzhou is also good to me, so i also hope that i can continue to work hard tomorrow."
this victory not only belongs to zhang zhizhen, but also to chinese men's tennis - the atp tour semi-finals ushered in the "china derby" for the first time. regarding buyunchaoket's growth, zhang zhizhen believes that buyunchaoket's progress is indeed very fast, but it did not surprise him. the last time he practiced with buyunchaoket when both of them were in good condition was also in hangzhou - during the training before the asian games last year, buyunchaoket brought a lot of pressure to zhang zhizhen in the confrontation. zhang zhizhen said: "i believe that if he can continue to maintain this state, he can achieve better results."
before zhang zhizhen entered the final, 19-year-old shang juncheng defeated german player hanfmann 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals of the chengdu open, also entering the tour final for the first time in his career. zhang zhizhen, the "senior", is very happy about the catch-up of the younger generation: "i will continue to work hard to improve my ranking, but i also believe that others will surpass my ranking. shang juncheng is so young, it's only a matter of time."
in the final, zhang zhizhen will compete with former us open champion marin cilic for the championship. in the first men's singles semi-final, cilic defeated the american player brandon nakajima, who has been in good form recently, 6-4, 7-6 in straight sets, and entered the final as a wildcard player in his first atp tour tournament after his comeback. speaking of his final opponent cilic, zhang zhizhen said: "he is a grand slam champion. although his ranking is very low and he is participating in the competition with a wildcard, his serve and baseline skills are still there, which is enough to make up for his lack of mobility. this is the difficulty i need to overcome tomorrow, and i will study how to deal with it."
facing the upcoming first tour final of his career, zhang zhizhen said that he will definitely feel pressure, but based on past experience, he knows that he needs to stay relaxed and avoid thinking too much about the final. zhang zhizhen emphasized that it is important to enjoy the final and try to get back to the best condition, "trying to play a game that satisfies me and does not make me regret it."
author: wu yulun
text: reporter wu yulun photo: event editor: chen haixiang responsible editor: shen lei
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