Wu Yibing defeats Nick Kyrgios to notch first win on grass at ATP Stuttgart

Wu Yibing of China reacts during a men's singles first round match against Nick Kyrgios of Australia at Boss Open 2023 tennis tournament in Stuttgart, Germany, June 13, 2023. (Photo by Philippe Ruiz/Xinhua)

BERLIN, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China's rising star Wu Yibing notched the first win on grass in his pro-career by defeating eighth seed Nick Kyrgios of Australia on Tuesday at ATP250 Stuttgart Boss Open in Germany.

As the first ATP title winner from the Chinese mainland, Wu played his first pro match on grass against Kyrgios. The relative inexperience on the surface did not stop the Chinese from grabbing an impressive opening win over Kyrgios 7-5, 6-3 in the first round of the Stuttgart tournament.

"The last time I played on grass was juniors back in 2017, so six years," said 23-year-old Wu after his victory. "I was really happy to play Nick in the first round. He's one of the best players on grass and he served well. He aced me many times. The key for me was to stay cool, stay patient in the game and find a way."

Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, had surgery to repair a small tear in his left lateral meniscus in January and appeared to be struggling physically from early in the match.

Wu saved a break point in the opening game with a classy forehand on the run before making his move on return to break Kyrgios in the 12th game and claim the first set. As Kyrgios' movement grew visibly more restricted, World No. 64 Wu claimed the only break of the second set to seal his third Top 30 win.

"It was pretty special because it was very tense, and he was holding his service games pretty easily," said Wu, "I was suffering on serve sometimes because he has better serves than me, but I was patient in the match. I will keep going and work on my serve, and hopefully I can be a better server."

Wu's second-round opponent will be Marton Fucsovics after the Hungarian qualifier rallied past Denis Shapovalov of Canada 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

China's Zhang Zhizhen, fighting to the third round at Roland Garros, was outplayed by local favorite Jan-Lennard Struff 6-1, 6-4 in 57 minutes.