Last week's Taylor Challenge had a Chinese red, and Wu Yixuan won the championship with seven consecutive wins

As we all know, tennis matches are divided into Grand Slams, Tours, Challengers, and Hope Tournaments from high to low. Due to the low level of the Challenger, many fans think that it is easier to win the championship at the Challenger. However, the fact is that since Wu Di won the first challenge championship of Chinese men's tennis in 2016, only Wu Di, Zhang Ze, Wu Yixuan, Zhang Zhizhen, Shang Juncheng, Buyun Chaoket, and Sun Fajing have won the challenge championship.

Before last week, even if he was able to break into the finals of the challenge, in addition to the above-mentioned people, there was only Li Zhe; Even Bai Yan, a veteran who qualified for the Wimbledon qualifying tournament some time ago, failed to reach the final of the challenger. All of this shows that it's not easy to win the challenge. However, at the Taylor Challenge last week, two Chinese men's tennis players staged a compatriot derby in the final. So, who are these two Chinese men's tennis players? In the end, who won the championship? Today, let this article take you to take a look.

Whether it is in the junior Grand Slam tournament, Grand Slam tournament, overseas Masters, or challenge tournaments, Wu Yixuan is the first Chinese men's tennis player to make a breakthrough. Unfortunately, after the upset loss to Hong Kong's Huang Zelin in the 2023 Asian Games, he has been in a state of stop-and-stop. As a result, Wu even fell to the bottom of the world rankings last week and appeared as the fifth seed in the qualifying round of the Taylor Challenger qualifier.

In the first round of the qualifying round, Wu Yixuan only allowed Japan's Keisuke Saito to win four games to advance. In the decisive round of the qualifying round, Wu's opponent was the American player Cressie, who had won the tour championship. In the first set, the two fought fiercely, and he took the lead 7-5. After that, Cressy withdrew from the tournament due to injury, which allowed Wu to reach the main draw of the Taylor Challenger.

On the other side, Zhou Yi relied on the world ranking to enter the main event of the Taylor Challenger. In the first round of the main event, Wu Yixuan defeated American player P Maloney in three sets and was able to advance. Zhou Yi defeated American qualifier T Hilderbrand and won the first overseas challenge of his career.

In the second round, Wu's opponent was France's Escofier, the fourth seed who won the Challenger Tournament, and in this match, Wu Yixuan defeated his opponent in straight sets and successfully advanced. Zhou Yi, on the other hand, unexpectedly defeated the third seed of the tournament, Japan's Yuta Shimizu, who also won the Challenger Tournament, and once again made a breakthrough in his career.

In the quarterfinals, facing the challenge of American player Rybakov, Wu Yixuan won in straight sets and entered the semifinals of the Challenger for the first time this year. And Zhou Yi also fell in straight sets in two sets, defeating Japan's Rio Noguchi and reaching the semifinals of the Challenger for the first time in his career. Due to Kipson's retirement, Zhou Yi reached the final of the challenge tournament for the first time in his career. Wu Yixuan defeated Brazil's K Sell in straight sets in two sets and also reached the final. This is the first time that a Chinese derby has been featured in the final of the challenger.

The two fought in the final until the deciding set to determine the winner. In the end, Wu Yixuan, who had more experience in the competition, defeated Zhou Yi and won the sixth challenge championship of his career. With this victory, he returned to the top 300 in the world rankings. Hopefully, in the future, both Chinese players will have good records. That's it for today, and it will continue tomorrow.(Source: Tennis Home Author: Yixin Jushi)